Mr. Sanga Ruangwattanakul, president of the Khaosan Road Business Association, told the Thai press this evening that after a series of meetings Khaosan Road will still hold its planned major Halloween Festival tomorrow night, Monday, October 31st.
However, due to a crowd crush tragedy in Korea that took over 150 lives this weekend at a Halloween event, crowd control measures, and precautions would be increased.
Mr. Sanga added that the road where the major crowd crush took place was an alley only 8 meters wide with few exits. Khaosan Road is 12 meters wide with many exits.
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration officials would hold a meeting with Khaosan Road officials tomorrow afternoon to set a safe level of the number of tourists allowed in the area at one time. Checkpoints will be in place at both ends of the road manned by law enforcement and medical staff.
Additionally, venues would be checked to ensure fire exits were not locked or blocked and not overcrowded, Mr. Sanga added. Patrols of law enforcement would also be increased. Mr. Sanga added that Khaosan Road during peak Songkran celebrations easily handled over 100,000 people a day and they did not expect Halloween to top this.
Khaosan Road has been planning its major Halloween event for weeks. As the area is driven by tourism and Halloween was essentially canceled for the past two years due to covid precautions, a major holiday event is expected and welcomed by business owners.
PHOTO: Manager Online
