Chiang Mai train halted by bomb hoax

1 Aug 2011

After receiving a warning that a bomb had been planted on a train on Saturday, rail officials evacuated all carriages on it. More than 300 passengers were on the Bangkok bound train when police halted it at Lampang and asked them to get off while a search for the bomb was conducted.

Train 102 had departed from Chiang Mai at about 07:00. Two hours later, Silrat Devaji, the stationmaster at Chiang Mai, said that a man claiming to be from southern Thailand phoned and said there was a bomb hidden in one of the third-class carriages.

The caller claimed the bomb had been timed to detonate 40 minutes later. After the passengers had been evacuated from the train, police and rail officials searched it, but could find no sign of any explosive device.

After the search had been completed, passengers were allowed to reboard and the train continued its journey to Bangkok.

Although the hoax caller said that he was from one of Thailand’s troubled southern provinces, police say that they are keeping an open mind regarding the claim. They allege that the call may have been a response by drug smugglers to a recent crackdown that stopped them using trains to transport their products.

Although train services in Thailand’s southern regions near the city of Hat Yai have in the past been targeted by terrorists, Saturday’s incident was believed to be the first of this kind for the northern areas of the country.

Tags: Chiang Mai train bomb hoax