Jatukham Rammathep Amulets

Woman dies in amulet crush

51-year-old trampled, many injured as thousands jostle for Chatukam charms
A 51-year-old woman was crushed to death and dozens injured yesterday when thousands of people forced their way into a technical school here to buy coupons for the sought-after Chatukam Ramthep amulets.

This prompted the Religious Affairs Department to call for safer public distribution of the famous amulets and ask the private sector to postpone distribution to prevent such tragedies re-occurring.

Thousands of people had been waiting since midnight on Sunday at three coupon-selling spots at Nakhon Si Thammarat Technical College, Rama XI Park, and Thanakhonyanwaropasuthit School to get the amulets' special edition produced by Wat Phra Nakhon.

The crowd caused a five-kilometre traffic jam in the city.

Nearly 10,000 forced their way to the coupon desk on the second floor of the technical school at about 8am. Many women and elderly people fainted and were trampled by the crowd.

Officials had to pull out the injured and found that Phuen Khongpetch, 51, had been trampled to death. She had footprints all over her body. Dozens were injured and the college gate and fence were destroyed.

At Rama XI Park, people also broke through the gate to get the coupons.

The chaos overwhelmed the 100 policemen present and caused the coupon selling to be stopped.

Many people were upset and remained at the premises in the hope the selling would resume, while some cried because they could not get coupons.

Nakhon Si Thammarat Commander Pol Maj Gen Sudjai Yanarat, who later visited the injured, said police would look into the death to find out whether Phuen had passed out or was simply knocked down in the stampede.

If it was the latter, the event organiser would be charged with recklessness causing another's death. Sudjai said the authorities would prevent such a tragedy recurring so this death would be "last of its kind".

Wat Phra Nakhon had held a similar coupon-selling event on March 16, but the chaos from people fighting over the coupons forced the temple to suspend the activity. It started selling again yesterday.

Phra Maha Maitri, abbot of Wat Phra Nakhon, said people wanting reservation coupons for the amulets consisted of three groups: those who really worshipped the talisman, those who aimed to re-sell the amulets for profit, and teenagers hired by amulet-selling businessmen at Bt500 to Bt1,000 to get the talismans so they could later boost the price and make a profit.

"The chaos resulted from the third group who were hot-headed and disrespected the rules and pushed their way in," said the monk. He said the temple was now tightly guarded by police for fear of the talismans being stolen.

Meanwhile, Religious Affairs Department director-general Preecha Kantiya, said that following the recent death and injuries, he had contacted the provincial Buddhist authorities in Nakhon Si Thammarat - which made the original Chatukam Ramthep amulets - to seek safer ways to publicly distribute them, and a proper way of making the amulets.

"The department can't stop temples from producing or giving Chatukam Ramthep amulets to the public, but we'll try to find ways of distribution because of concerns for public safety," Preecha said. He urged the private sector and organisations that produce the charms to stop distributing them until it could be done safely.

Kanok Saenprasert, a senior official at the Office of National Buddhism, said officials would oversee that temples and abbots act according to Buddhist monastic disciplines.

He said the Thai Sangha clearly stated that Buddha amulets and talismans could be made and distributed as memorial items to the public. But they should not be involved in commerce or boast about supernatural powers as a selling point.

The famous amulet is believed to have magical power that protects its holder from harm and brings good luck.

Although it has no relation to Buddhism, many Thai Buddhists believe in the amulet's power and are prepared to pay large sums for it.

The Nation

Nakhon Si Thammarat