Latest news with #ChiangRai
South China Morning Post
28-05-2025
- Health
- South China Morning Post
Thai river turns orange as dangerous toxins from Myanmar mines flush downstream
Dangerous levels of arsenic in a northern Thai river contaminated by chemicals used in mines across the border in Myanmar risk unleashing an unprecedented ecological disaster on the kingdom's waterways, environmentalists have warned, as images of the orange-yellow waters go viral. Advertisement Bangkok is seeking renewed talks with Myanmar's junta to stop the toxic sediment flowing downstream into the Kok River, which runs from Shan State, in Myanmar through Thailand's border province of Chiang Rai. But the urgency of the health crisis for riverside communities – who have been warned not to wash, drink or eat fish from the contaminated waterway they depend on – is compounded by the fact that the mines are located in territory controlled by the Wa, an ethnic armed group notorious for drug production, unchecked resource extraction and opaque business ties to China. Thai villagers started to notice the discolouration of the water in March. Fishermen on the Chiang Saen river. Photo: Earth Thailand However, satellite imagery suggests the contamination began as early as last September, when large upstream forest areas in Myanmar were cleared for mining – initially thought to be for gold, but now suspected to involve rare earths, based on the volume of chemical effluent released into the river.
CNA
06-05-2025
- CNA
Thailand shuts scenic viewing spot after Laos clashes
BANGKOK: Rare armed clashes in Laos believed to be linked to drug smuggling have forced Thailand to close a popular mountain viewing point on the border and prompted a security warning from the United States. Thai national park officials said on Monday (May 5) that the Phu Chi Fa scenic spot, on the border with Laos in northern Chiang Rai province, has been closed until further notice. The US embassy in Vientiane urged Americans thinking of travelling to Bokeo province to reconsider after reports of "clashes between the Lao army and unidentified armed groups". "Local officials have requested raised security levels, which will include an increase in military checkpoints and troop presence," the embassy said on its website. Unrest is rare in communist Laos but the country forms part of the Golden Triangle – covering the border areas with Myanmar and Thailand – that has been a hub for Southeast Asia's lucrative drug trade for decades. State-run Lao National Radio reported on Tuesday that a border patrol clashed with drug smugglers in Bokeo on Saturday and arrested four suspects. The report said that some border patrol officials were killed and wounded in the clashes, without giving details. Police in Laos did not respond to AFP's request for comment. Suphakorn Phromcharoen, the police chief in Thailand's Wiang Kaen district, across the border from the location of the clashes, told AFP that at least one stray bullet had hit a house on the Thai side of the border. Thai authorities estimate that at least one soldier may have been killed and more than a dozen wounded.
