Safer travels
Passengers get insurance
The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) plans to provide passengers and staff on board its trains with accident insurance for the first time, SRT governor Wuthichart Kalyanamitra said on July 5.
Currently, the SRT pays compensation to victims of accidents on its trains. Under the insurance scheme proposed, a private company will pay the victims. Costs related to the scheme will be shouldered by the rail agency, and not incorporated into train fares. The insurance coverage should start in November, Wuthichart said.
Welcome rain
Drought eases across Thailand
The number of drought-hit provinces has more than halved after rain made an appearance in the upper North and Northeast, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department said on July 5.
Department chief Chatchai Promlert said 40 provinces were reported as drought-hit until the beginning of July, when welcome rain eased the situation in 27 provinces. A monsoon trough lies across Myanmar, Laos and upper Vietnam, declining to a low pressure cell in the Gulf of Tonkin, which is causing the rainfall, Chatchai said.