Thailand

Stranded tourists leave as political crisis drags on

Article published on the 2008-12-05 Latest update 2008-12-08 11:03 TU

Stranded British tourists Paul Ayling and Selena Woods at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport as a plane takes off
(Photo: Reuters)

Thousands of tourists who have been stranded by the occupation of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport left Thailand on Friday, with many more to follow. Officials say that about 80,000 of the estimated 350,000 tourists trapped by People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protests will be able to leave on Friday. As the government announced that Monday's session of Parliament was cancelled, the country looks set to remain without a Prime Minister for some time.

Monday's session would have elected a new Prime Minister after the outgoing Somchai Wongsawat was banned by a court earlier this week.

But the caretaker government declared that it would not go ahead, after King Bhumibol Adulyadej failed to turn up to his 81st birthday celebrations and Crown Prince Maha Chakri Sirindhorn said he had "a blockage of the throat and ... poor appetite".

The no-show dashed hopes that the monarch would propose a way out of the long-running political crisis.

Meanwhile, in the mainly-Muslim south, nine people were killed in a bombing and two separate shootings that have been blamed on separatist guerrillas.

"It is likely that militants wanted to retaliate for the detention of bomb suspects ... early last month," said Major-General Thirayuth Saengrod, deputy army commander in the southern city of Narathiwat.