CHIANG MAI — Thai police have been ordered to strictly enforce a ban on releasing sky lanterns before 9pm after a flight was cancelled on New Year’s Eve when scraps of a lantern were found in the plane’s engine.

The Bangkok Airways flight, an Airbus A320, was scheduled to fly from Chiang Mai to Bangkok.

According to a statement from the airline, “after the aircraft parked at the gate, technicians found a lantern stuck to engine number two and the airline decided to cancel.” 

The lantern did not cause any lasting damage to the airplane, which later flew to Bangkok without passengers.

"Police have set clear measures about releasing 'kom loy' [flying lanterns]," AFP quoted Royal Thai Police spokesman Pol Maj-General Prawut Thawornsiri as saying yesterday. "It can be done after 9pm but during the New Year holiday, many people released their lanterns in the evening."

The director of Chiang Mai’s International Airport said his team collected 200 lanterns inside the airport over New Year’s Eve, surpassing the number found during Loy Krathong, a festival in November commonly celebrated with lanterns. 

Thai authorities have made repeated efforts to enforce laws regulating the sky lanterns, which consist of small paper balloons buoyed by a flaming paper wick, but so far to little avail. 

By Ahmad Pathoni

JAKARTA (DPA) – Indonesian ships have detected two large objects believed to be parts of the AirAsia plane that crashed off Borneo island with 162 people on board, the search chief said Saturday. 

"We managed to detect two large objects – one three-dimensioned, another two-dimensioned," Bambang Sulistyo said.

"I can confirm that they are parts of the plane we are looking for," he said.

One object measures 9.4 x 4.8 x 0.4 metres and the other 7.2 x 0.5 metres and they were close to each other, he said.

"We are trying to lower an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) to capture the actual image of the objects on the sea floor, at a depth of 30 metres," Bambang said.

AirAsia's Airbus A320-200 crashed Sunday halfway through a two-hour flight between Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, and Singapore.

Indonesian Transportation Ministry said late Friday that it had banned AirAsia from flying the Surabaya-Singapore route, after it was discovered the airline had no permit to fly the route on Sundays, the state Antara news agency said.

Ministry spokesman Julius Barata said AirAsia had a permit to serve the route only on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

AirAsia could not be immediately reached for comment on the ban, which was effective January 2.

Bambang said at least 30 bodies have been retrieved from the crash site. 

Bambang said two Russian aircraft, including a Beriev BE200 amphibious plane, had arrived to assist the search, along with about 50 Russian divers and an unmanned submersible, a vehicle designed to operate underwater.

He said he would assign the amphibious aircraft to look for any floating objects, especially dead bodies, that have strayed from the search area, while the divers would be tasked with reaching the two large objects.

BANGKOK – At least 227 people have died in more than 2,000 road accidents in Thailand over the New Year holiday, officials said on Saturday.

The number of road-related fatalities between 30 Dec and 3 January is slightly up from last year, when 209 people reportedly died in car crashes during the same period.    

The week starting on 30 December is known as the “seven dangerous days” in Thailand for its annually high incidence of accidents, most of which are alchohol-related.

At least 2,163 people were also injured in this year’s crashes, the vast majority of which involved motorcyclists, according to officials from the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. 

The Transportation Research Institute ranks Thailand as the second most dangerous place to drive in the world, with a rate of 44 deaths per 100,000 people, a number nearly twice global average. 

By Ahmad Pathoni

JAKARTA (DPA) – Indonesian ships have detected two large objects believed to be parts of the AirAsia plane that crashed off Borneo island with 162 people on board, the search chief said Saturday. 

"We managed to detect two large objects – one three-dimensioned, another two-dimensioned," Bambang Sulistyo said.

"I can confirm that they are parts of the plane we are looking for," he said.

One object measures 9.4 x 4.8 x 0.4 metres and the other 7.2 x 0.5 metres and they were close to each other, he said.

"We are trying to lower an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) to capture the actual image of the objects on the sea floor, at a depth of 30 metres," Bambang said.

AirAsia's Airbus A320-200 crashed Sunday halfway through a two-hour flight between Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, and Singapore.

Indonesian Transportation Ministry said late Friday that it had banned AirAsia from flying the Surabaya-Singapore route, after it was discovered the airline had no permit to fly the route on Sundays, the state Antara news agency said.

Ministry spokesman Julius Barata said AirAsia had a permit to serve the route only on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

AirAsia could not be immediately reached for comment on the ban, which was effective January 2.

Bambang said at least 30 bodies have been retrieved from the crash site. 

Bambang said two Russian aircraft, including a Beriev BE200 amphibious plane, had arrived to assist the search, along with about 50 Russian divers and an unmanned submersible, a vehicle designed to operate underwater.

He said he would assign the amphibious aircraft to look for any floating objects, especially dead bodies, that have strayed from the search area, while the divers would be tasked with reaching the two large objects.

BANGKOK — The legislative body appointed by Thailand’s military junta has prepared 163 draft laws for consideration this upcoming year, state media reported.

The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) has already proposed 72 draft bills since it was formed in August following the 22 May military coup. Forty-nine of those bills have already been passed, while the rest are still being reviewed by subcommittees and are expected to be approved this year, said NLA vice president Peerasak Porchit.

One of the bills will address inequality in Thai society, Peerasak said, calling it a “new year’s gift” for Thais from the government.

According to data from the World Bank, income inequality in Thailand has decreased in recent years, but remains consistently high with wealth disparities largely drawn along rural-urban lines.

On 18 December the NLA considered a inheritance tax bill that would impose a 10% tax on bequests worth more than 50 million baht. The draft bill is now under review by a 25-person committee. 

The NLA has also appointed a committee on academic and technical affairs to help classify the high number of incoming bills and help the assembly process them quickly, Peerasak added. 

According to NLA president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, nearly two thirds of the draft bills discussed in 2014 were proposed by the Cabinet, while the other third was proposed by the junta, formally known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).

Under the 2014 interim constitution penned by the junta, the NLA is responsible for passing and amending laws until the next general election, which is expected to be held in 2016 at the earliest. 

More than half of the assembly's 250 members, who were handpicked by the NCPO, are active or retired military and police personnel. 

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