Tropical storm ‘Pabuk’ makes landfall in Thailand

Bangkok: Thousands have been left stranded across tourist hotspots in Thailand as tropical storm ‘Pabuk’ made landfall in the country’s southern gulf coast on Friday.

All flights and ferry services have been suspended since Thursday in anticipation of the storm which first hit Pak Panang district in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province on January 4.

Tourist spots like Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao islands, Phuket and Koh Phi Phi will be affected by ‘Pabuk’, reports CNN.

“It’s quite scary being here because we don’t know what’s going to happen and there is no way to leave,” CNN quoted American tourist Miranda Abidyer, stranded in Koh Samui, as saying.

Kittipop Roddon, the district chief of Koh Samui said, “The island is now totally cut off from the mainland, all kinds of transportation (to the mainland) have been suspended since yesterday,” while mentioning that there are around 20,000 tourists on the island.

The storm’s projected path will see it progress to the Andaman Sea, towards the Bay of Bengal and may pose a threat to countries like India, Bangladesh and Myanmar by next week.

[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]