6 Westerners die in floods

Six Western tourists and two Thai guides died after flash floods swept them away while exploring a cave at a southern Thai national park, police said yesterday.

The victims were determined to be four Swiss citizens, a British man and a 10-year-old German boy, said police Lieutenant Colonel Pichan Kanayasiri.

The group had been trekking through the Khao Sok national park in Surathani province late Saturday afternoon when a heavy rainfall caused flash floods that sent water surging through the cave, which was near a waterfall, Pichan said.

King's health improving

Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest reigning monarch, was improving in hospital a day after being treated for eight hours, the palace said yesterday.

The king, who will be 80 in December, was taken to the Bangkok hospital on Saturday complaining of weakness in his right side.

On Saturday, the palace said the king had a blood clot in his leg, weakness in his right side while tests showed a slight lessening of the flow of blood to his brain.

(China Daily 10/15/2007 page9)