Thais soak in new year with nationwide water fight

BANGKOK - Hordes of revelers armed with plastic water guns poured onto Thai streets on Friday for a second day of watery warfare to ring in the kingdom's traditional new year.

Known as Songkran, the Thai holiday is celebrated by paying respect to elders and sprinkling water over Buddha figures at local temples.

But the festival has also become one of the world's biggest water fights.

Every April, street parties erupt across the nation as hundreds of thousands of Thais and tourists don floral shirts and drench each other with brightly-colored water pistols.

Similar water festivals are also held in neighboring Buddhist countries like Myanmar and Laos and celebrated in China's Yunnan province by the Dai ethnic minority.

The burst of color was especially striking this year in Bangkok, where many people have worn only black and white for the past six months to mourn the October death of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Many see the celebration as a fun-filled respite from the sweltering heat that grips Thailand.

Revelers are advised not to drink alcohol, as the country has seen 33 deaths and 420 injuries from 409 road accidents since the first day of the holiday.

Officials say driving under the influence of alcohol is responsible for the greatest number of accidents.

Partygoers are also warned not to use talcum powder and high-pressure water guns.

Those warnings came after a poll revealed half the females who attended the water festival complained of being sexually harassed and groped by drunken men who apply powders to others during the event.

The throwing of water is the festival's highlight. For three days virtually the entire country turns into a celebratory war zone. Revelers with huge water guns roam the streets, armed with buckets of water to target anyone within reach.

Yuthasak, governor of The Tourism Authority of Thailand, expected that the country would welcome about 470,000 foreign tourists from April 13-17, adding that Chinese tourists will continue to contribute the most.

Xinhua-Afp