More than 200 people have died during Thailand’s Songkran Water Festival, a festival that kicks off the beginning of Songkran, the Thai New Year.
According to the Bangkok Post on April 16th (local time), Thailand’s Public Health Minister, Chonlanan Srikaew, reported that between April 11th and 15th, which is the duration of the Songkran festival, 206 people died and 1,593 were injured.
Songkran is a national holiday in Thailand that is typically celebrated by sprinkling purified water on Buddha statues or hands to wash away misfortunes and make wishes.
As part of this tradition, water festivals are held in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and other places during the Songkran holiday, where people splash water at each other or shoot water guns. Even large water trucks and elephants are involved.
Around 500,000 foreign tourists visit Thailand to coincide with this celebration. Last December, UNESCO registered Songkran as an intangible cultural heritage.
However, as large crowds gather in major cities and the festival heats up, various incidents and accidents occur.
This year, the festival saw numerous motorcycle accidents due to speeding (43.2%) or drunk driving (23.9%). Brawls and sexual assaults also frequently occur. In a survey conducted last year by a Thai civil society organization, 60% of respondents reported experiencing sexual harassment during Songkran.
On April 14th, a foreign tourist drowned while trying to retrieve a water gun that had fallen into the Saen Saep canal, which runs through downtown Bangkok.
During the festival, 1,600 public servants and volunteers, including firefighters and nurses, were deployed in Bangkok’s capital. Despite deploying 600 police officers in the resort city of Pattaya, they could not prevent casualties.
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