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Thai rubber blazes in rebel attack
More detail on a story briefly mentioned here yesterday.Suspected Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand set fire Wednesday to a warehouse storing rubber, a cornerstone of the region's economy, police said. Police said suspected rebels set fire to the largest rubber warehouse in Yala province, owned by the Southern Land Rubber Co., a joint venture between Thai and Malaysian businessmen, shortly after midnight and it was still burning more than eight hours later. Smoke blanketed large areas of Yala province as more than 30 fire trucks struggled to douse the flames, police Col. Phumphet Pipatpetphum said. Kiert Kitikulseritham, the company manager, said all 5,000 tons of rubber were believed to have been destroyed in the blaze, with losses estimated at $11.8 million. He said the company's 500 workers may lose their jobs. "We will discuss what to do next but I think we may have to shut down the company because there is no safety here. We risk both life and property from the ongoing violence," Kiert told reporters. And a little more detail from the Bangkok Post: Insurgents threw firebombs to set the fire. The arsonists scattered spikes on the road leading to the warehouse to slow down firefighters and emergency workers going to the site, on the rim of Yala City, which is 760 kilometres south of Bangkok. The company exports 200,000 tonnes of rubber a year to China, Japan and the United States, with clients including major firms like Bridgestone, Michelin and Goodyear. Thailand is the world's biggest rubber exporter, and most of the crop is grown in the South. About 10 workers who were staying inside the building fled for their lives and no casualties were reported. Rubber plantations, most of them owned and managed by Sino-Thais, are one of the main sources of employment and income for the region. Experts on the deep South say the separatists have been increasing efforts to terrorise the Chinese business community as a means of further destabilising the economy and driving non-Muslims out of the three provinces which border Malaysia. Posted by: ryuge 2007-02-22 |
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