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| Southeast Asia |
| Thai bomb squad deaths blamed on equipment |
| 2011-01-04 |
| The leader of Narathiwat province's bomb squad has blamed poor and ineffective equipment for the death of two bomb squad officers and injuries to nine others in a blast on Saturday in southern Thailand. The bomb exploded as 50-year-old Pol Sen Sgt Maj Kitti Mingsuk and Pol Sgt Maj Kritsada Thong-or were attempting to defuse it. They responded after police received a report two men on a motorcycle had placed a suspicious box on Chattrawarin Road. The chief of Narathiwat police's bomb squad said Chaen said devices used by the squad to try to block phone calls failed to function because of the signal poles of a private phone company 100 meters from the scene which sent a stronger telephone signal. "Our devices only worked for 5-10 minutes. They could not offset the powerful signal of the telephone company. This was the weak spot that allowed militants to work successfully.' Chaen called for higher officials to cooperate with the private firms to cut phone signals for 30-50 minutes to allow bomb disposal police to work at the bomb sites. He said the bomb suit that Kitti wore was old. He got it in 2004 and it was only supposed to be used for five years. And it was made to withstand only an explosion by a 1.5 pound device, the bomb on Saturday was 5 kilograms. The bomb squad also had problems with the robot, which did not function properly on that day. It was produced by Lanna Technical College in Chiang Mai and is not considered to be as efficient as imported ones. "I have seen bomb detector robots in the US which are controlled by remote control or computers in a room. They are equipped with missiles and a camera. Our robots are controlled in open space and not via remote control function. Officials risk their lives since they have to work close to the bomb scene," Chaen explained. Deputy Police Chief Maj-General Adul Saengsingkaew made a follow-up visit to the area. He admitted that equipment malfunctions were responsible for the deaths of the two officers. But he said |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #2 After reading this, it's probably gonna be kinda tough to fill their two new job openings. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2011-01-04 17:24 |
| #1 The bomb squad also had problems with the robot, which did not function properly on that day. It was produced by Lanna Technical College in Chiang Mai and is not considered to be as efficient as imported ones. Thailand isn't that a poor a country. Heck, even the Indonesian security services buy expensive American stuff. I suspect the bomb squad equipment budget went into some Thai official's Singaporean (East Asia's equivalent of Swiss) bank account. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2011-01-04 17:17 |