[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Today Bkk-Post (6)



<html>
<font size=7><b>Hostages assured they won't be hurt<br>
</font></b><font size=5><i>Woman calls station from embassy toilet<br>
</font></i><font size=3><b>Post Reporters<br>
</font><font size=5>A</font></b><font size=3> woman called a radio
station from a toilet in the embassy on her mobile telephone to say the
students were not aggressive.<br>
The woman, who identified herself only as Pattaya, told the host of the
Ruam Duay Chuay Kan radio programme the students, all men, had told the
hostages they would not be harmed.<br>
Ms Pattaya, who was later taken to the office of the ambassador along
with 15 Thais, said the students promised to release all Thais if the
Rangoon regime acted on their demands.<br>
While in the ambassador's room, the hostages were allowed to answer calls
from relatives, said Ms Pattaya, an embassy staffer for four years.<br>
Ms Pattaya said no one had been hurt and that shots had been fired in the
building when the students unlocked a door. Even though the students had
shown no aggressive behaviour, she said she was afraid because they
carried rifles and grenades.<br>
&quot;They said there would be no violence if their demands are met but
if that didn't happen they couldn't guarantee a peaceful ending,&quot;
she said.<br>
Ms Pattaya had been among a number of staffers who had eluded the
students when they stormed the mission.<br>
Some managed to sneak out of the embassy and others remained behind
locked doors in offices or in their quarters in the mission.<br>
Among them was Sompong Susarakham, 32, who called her husband, Mr Suphan,
35, an embassy driver, on his pager. Mr Suphan said his wife had been
hiding in her room with a five-year-old daughter. &quot;She told me she
hadn't been detained or hurt,&quot; said Mr Suphan as he waited on
Sathorn road.<br>
Usually, as many as 100 people live in the embassy compound.<br>
Khun Homphum, a gardener, said he managed to slip out of the compound
after hiding with his wife for five hours in their quarters. &quot;I
couldn't stand it any more,&quot; he said as he left the compound
alone.<br>
Mr Khun, 63, said he saw at least four men pull guns from guitar bags and
take embassy officials and visitors to a second-floor room of the visa
section.<br>
The dissidents smashed glass doors to force embassy officials out of
their rooms to join the other hostages, he said.<br>
A messenger, who identified himself only as Supol, said he was picking up
a visa for his employer when the students stormed in. The hostages, he
said, were being treated well. A Canadian tourist, Antoine Marcotte, 31,
was allowed to talk to Mark Laban, a TV cameraman. Mr Laban confirmed
shots had been fired but said no one had been hurt.<br>
Mr Laban said he was sending a fax to the embassy when one of the
dissidents picked up the handset and told him: &quot;We have guns, mines
and bombs.&quot;Rungrat Charnopparat, an air ticketing company worker,
said he believed his Thai colleague and a Burmese co-worker were still
inside the embassy.<br>
Outside the mission, Mr Rungrat said he had gone to the embassy to
contact Lamduan Saengkaew, 29, who had been collecting visas. <br>
<br>
</font>
<BR>
</html>