For example, they alleged, the crew abandoned the passengers to take care of the injured at the scene, and once the passengers reached
the terminal there was no official or interpretor to assist them, creating much
confusion.

But the airline president, Mr. Amphon Kitti-amphon, asserted that the crew
had provided emergency services to the passengers according to standard procedures in a timely
manner throughout the evacuation process.

He also said the passengers could only receive
their luggages this morning because they were restricted from removing any belongings from the
aircraft during the accident.

The delay in delivering the luggages out of the aircraft was
due to safety procedures involving different agencies such as the Thai Airways engineers,
officials of Airbus company, and the airport authorities, he said.

As for the damaged Airbus A330, Mr. Amphon said it
was roughly 16-17 years old, and had periodically received check-ups.

Mr. Amphon also said
that the airline board members plan to visit injured passengers as part of compensation packages
from the airline.

The Thai Airway crews also made a public announcement on their official
Facebook page. The crew had followed all the procedures from the International Civil Aviation
Organisation (ICAO), the statement insisted.

Although some passengers complained that cabin
crew left the aircraft first, the statement explained that two of the cabin crew needed to slide
off the aircraft first, in order to be able to insist passengers who slid off the sliding
track.

The statement also claimed that two of the cabin crew stayed behind to check if there was
any passenger left behind on the aircraft, as the passengers complained that the crew left them
stranded at the runway.

The crew, according to the statement, also gave first aid to lightly injured passengers, before transporting all passengers 200 metres away from the
aircraft.

However, as for the complaint that no crew member showed up to handle the
passengers at the terminal, the statement said that the crew were not allowed by Suvarnabhumi Airport to
enter the airport building during the evacuation, and that it was supposed to be the duty of the
ground staff of the airport authorities.

Mr. Chatchai Swatthong, 56, Mr. Lanyon′s neighbour, told our
correspondent that Mr. Lanyon had resided in Kanchanaburi for 8 years. After noticing that Mr.
Lanyon had not left the house for two days, Mr. Chatchai then paid the man a visit, and found him
sitting breathless on a chair on the top floor of the townhouse.

According to Mr. Chatchai,
Mr. Lanyon had been living a life of one party after another; he was also a heavy drinker and
smoker. In his house, police found numerous packages of alcoholic beverage and cigarettes.

The officers said they had found no sign of struggle or fight.

Autopsy report from
Paholpolpayuhasena Hospital stated that Mr. Lanyon had died from sudden heart attack.

The ex-monk, now known by his secular name Mr. Wirapol
Sukphol, is wanted by the Division of Special Investigation for financial fraud and sexual assault
of a woman who was a minor at the time.

The woman had alleged that Mr. Wirapol had
impregnated her. A photo also showed someone resembling Mr. Wirapol sleeping with the woman, but Mr.
Wirapol′s brother, Suri Sukphol, had insisted that it was he who was in the photo.

However,
Mr. Suri met with the DSI this morning and said he did not even know the woman in the first place,
said the DSI chief, Mr. Tharit Pengdith. Mr. Suri also reportedly confessed he had lied to the
public for the sake of his brother.

Mr. Suri refused to answer any question from the
reporters.

According to officers, Mr. Suri did not say who fathered the child, but the DSI
has previously claimed that DNA tests pointed to Mr. Wirapol as the child′s father.

Although
the DSI has threatened legal action against Mr. Suri for making a false testimony, the DSI chief
today said that would not be the case, since Mr. Suri had never made the claim to the police
officers.

Furthermore, Mr. Tharith said, Mr. Suri′s admission of his previous false
statements would actually help reinforce the DSI′s case against Mr. Wirapol.

It would not
lead to legal prosecution against Mr. Suri, but it is up to the society to judge his actions Mr.
Tharith said.

According to the British man, he and Mr. Sraldo met the women at a local mall.
The women then asked the two tourists to drink some alcoholic beverage, and they fell asleep soon
afterwards, the Briton said. The victims believed the beverage contained sleeping
pills.

Police then searched the room of the victims at Arcon Residence Hotel, where he said
some of his possessions went missing, including Nikon 3D camera, camera lenses, cash worth
approximately 4,000-5,000 GBP, and a watch.

Some other items were also removed from the room,
including 170 euros in cash, 100 USD in cash and a watch worth nearly 100,000 baht, police
said.

The victims also brought the documents confirming their substance tests conducted by
Memorial Hospital, which will confirm within 15 days whether the tourists had unknowingly taken
sleeping pills.

Mr. Areepong Poo-Chaum, Deputy Permanent
Secretary of Ministry of Finance, said the import tax for these goods would be reduced from 30% to
5%.

The Ministry is aiming to impose the new tax rate at the beginning of high travelling
seasons, during which the tourism industry expects to welcome large numbers of high-spending
shoppers to purchase luxury goods in the kingdom.

The deputy secretary explained that the
current 30% tax topping on price of luxury goods have caused Thai tourists to travel to destinations
like Hong Kong and Singapore to seek for the relatively cheaper 0%-taxed luxury
goods.

He also expressed confidence that cutting tax on
imported luxury goods, which are worth around tens millions of baht per year, will not cause the
government to lose large a amount of money and face an imbalanced import deficit, as the Ministry
also planned to increase value added tax (VAT) and corporate tax to create a balance in the
country′s fact sheets.

Previously,
Mr. Terdsak Chomtohsuwan, a lecturer on economics at Rangsit University, said the government should
tax unmarried individuals in order to increase the nation′s fertility rate which currently sits at
1.66 child per woman.

Data shows that Thailand′s total fertility rate (TFR) is relatively
lower than its neighbours. The Philippines – a Catholic-dominant country – have the highest TFR in
the Southeast Asian region: 3.10.

However, many Netizens somehow mistook it for an actual
government′s plan, sparking much criticism against the government of Prime Minister Yingluck
Shinawatra over the weekend. Anti-government groups helped fan the issue.

Sarunyu Ice
Winaipanich, a famous single, is one of the Netizens who vented his anger about the tax plan at the
government on his Facebook page.

The reaction led some in the social network to lament that
it is another example of the Thais? inability to read the news properly before making
judgement.

The discussion – and its misplaced criticism against the government
– is so viral that Mr. Anusorn Eiamsa-ad, deputy spokesman of Pheu Thai, declared in a press
conference that the plan was not raised by his party, and it is not being considered by the
government.

President of the airline said the situation is currently under investigation. But
it is reported that the plane′s malfunctioned wheels might have caused the plane to slide off the
runway as it touched the ground.

Some passengers were reportedly injured as they were being
evacuated out of the plane.

The airline staff were seen blackening out the logo of Thai
Airways and Star Alliance, the global airline group to which the airways belong, from the doomed
plane.

It is not clear who ordered the blurring, but a Thai Airways official has been quoted
in some media outlets as saying the action follows the guidelines provided by Star Alliance to
protect the company′s reputation in crisis incidents.

Ms. Rawewan Netrakavesna, Suvarnabhumi
Airport General Manager, said that the airport will close the runway and repair it.

The
maintenance of the runway will cause Suvarnabhumi airport to rely on its other runway parallel to
the damaged one, which may cause delay to several flights. The runway is due to reopen on 10
September.

A team from Department of Civil Aviation has been dispatched to investigate the
incident at the scene. The Department is also forming an inquiry committee which will not include
officials from Thai Airways in order to maintain its impartiality, officials said.

Preventing unplanned pregnancy is a crucial issue said Mr.
Pradith, Apart from creating sex education lessons in the country, the authority must support the
use of contraception and condoms

Reportedly, each day, 370 young women under the age of 20
encounter unplanned pregnancies, including 10 people aged under 15.

The Minister also
commented about Single Individual Tax, after, Mr. Terdsak Chomtohsuwan, Economics professor at
Rangsit University suggested the government to increase tax on single people.