District Chief Sakchai Taengho chairs the first
meeting of the Help Tourists Victimized by Crimes in Pattaya City and Banglamung
District Association.
Warunya Thongrod
Tourists injured or killed in Pattaya could receive up to 100,000 baht
under rules set by a new tourist-assistance association.
District Chief Sakchai Taengho chaired the first meeting of the awkwardly named
Help Tourists Victimized by Crimes in Pattaya City and Banglamung District
Association March 7.
Started as a legally designated “club” in 2012, the group gained association
status Aug. 29 and aims to compensate victims or their families after crimes or
accidents that damage the image of Pattaya.
As a club, the group paid out 40,000 baht to two Russian women robbed and raped
on Christmas, 60,000 baht to three South Koreans who lost limbs a speedboat
accident, 20,000 baht to an Indian sliced by a boat propeller, and 20,000 baht
to a Russian injured in an accident off Koh Larn.
With a budget of just over 1 million baht, the association will now pay out
100,000 baht to the family of anyone killed in a headline-grabbing incident,
50,000 baht to someone disabled or 20,000 baht to anyone injured.
To qualify for compensation, a victim must be on a temporary visa and hurt in a
crime or accident in a public area that affects the tourism image of Pattaya.
The association’s first grant, however, did not follow those rules. The group
gave 20,000 baht to the family of Lance Cpl. Sarawut Chaipanha, a Banglamung
Police officer killed in the failed Feb. 18 police operation against
anti-government demonstrators at Bangkok’s Phan Fah Bridge.
The association’s board is comprised of Sakchai, Pattaya Mayor Itthiphol
Kunplome, Mike Shopping Mall head Surat Mekavarakul, Pattaya Business & Tourism
Association President Sinchai Wattanasartsathorn and Thai Hotels Association
Eastern Region President Bundarik Kusolvitya.
