A Loy Krathong festival celebration almost turned into a tragedy last night when 12 people were injured by illegal fireworks set off at the event in the northern province of Nakhon Phanom. The Meung Nakhon Phanom mayor announced the victims only suffered mild injuries.
Nakhon Phanom provincial governor, other officers, and hundreds of residents joined the grand opening ceremony of the provincial Loy Krathong event at the Phanon Naga Park near the Mekong River.
Fireworks were prepared to light up at the end of the opening ceremony. However, the fireworks did not fly up to the sky due to some technical problems and scattered into the crowd injuring 12 residents and government officers standing nearby.
The government announced before the Loy Krathong Festival that firecrackers and fireworks were banned. The penalty for failing to follow the rules is different in each province. In Bangkok, those failing to adhere to the rules face three-year imprisonment, a 60,000 baht fine, or both.
The mayor of Meung Nakhon Phanom district, Niwat Jiawiriyaboonya, insisted to Thai media that the district office did not plan for fireworks and officers are investigating who is responsible.
Niwat apologised to the injured victims, adding they would receive treatment and compensation.
A man who went to the event last night posted videos of the incident on his Facebook account, Ford Hippie. He said he meant to get a wonderful video of fireworks for his girlfriend, but ended up being frightened by the footage instead. Check out the video below.