BANGKOK, Thailand -- Millions of people staged the world's biggest
water fight celebrating a week-long holiday which ended on April 17,
during which traffic accidents killed 442 people and the military
regime warned females wearing wet shirts not to expose themselves in
Thailand's sweltering streets.
   Bangkok "turned into City of Aquatic Mayhem," U.S. Ambassador to
Thailand, Glyn T. Davies, posted on his official Twitter account
@GlynTDavies during the April 11-17 Songkran New Year holiday.
   "Happy Songkran all -- long life, happiness, blessings & fun," the
envoy wrote, celebrating Thailand's traditional new year and several
days of public water splashing during the hottest weather of the year.
   Ambassador Davies also posted a photograph of himself and his wife,
both grinning and wearing sunglasses while gently squirting each other
with plastic sprayers alongside revelers in a busy Bangkok street.
   At least 442 people died in nationwide traffic accidents during
April 11-17 -- annually dubbed the "Seven Days of Death" -- and 3,656
were injured, according to the Road Safety Directing Center.
   Victims included motorcyclists and their passengers who were
spontaneously hit by big buckets of water hurled by streetside players
who gleefully drench passing vehicles and pedestrians while ignoring
the danger.
   Traffic bloodshed also occurred when pickup trucks across the
country carried squads of water-armed attackers and huge plastic tanks
of extra water, which they squirted or dumped on anyone or any vehicle
while driving fast and hunting for targets.
   People on public buses or inside taxis and private cars are also
not safe because players sometimes use buckets to drench them if a
vehicle's window is open.
   "That Thailand allows this wild carnival to proceed on their public
highways is a mystery that any foreigner can only wonder at," said a
letter to the editor of the Bangkok Post published on April 18.
   "It's the European equivalent of holding the San Fermin running of
the bulls on a Spanish 'autopista' [highway] without halting any of
the traffic," said the letter, signed Lungstib.
   "I witnessed at least one accident where a [motor] bike swerved
into the fast lane to avoid water, and was hit by a car, fortunately
not fatally," said another letter, signed Andrew.
   About 30 percent of the holiday's crashes were blamed on speeding,
and an additional 28 percent were caused by drunk driving, the
Transportation Ministry said.
   Overall, 81 percent of the accidents involved motorcycles.
   The highest number of deaths during Songkran occurred in 2006 when
more than 475 people perished.
   Thailand suffers the world's second-worst annual death toll due to
road accidents with more than 24,000 people killed, topped only by
Libya, according to the World Health Organization.
   Drunk drivers found guilty should be punished by having to work in
hospital morgues and take care of human corpses, suggested the
Probation Department.
   "We think the intensity that comes from working in a morgue will
help give those doing community service a clearer picture of what
happens after accidents cause by drunk driving," Nontajit Netpukkana,
a senior Probation Department official, told reporters.
   Police arrested more than 80,000 people for drunk driving during
the holiday, the junta's spokeswoman Sirichan Ngathong told reporters.
   Each year, many of the 67 million people in this Buddhist-majority
Southeast Asian country enjoy Songkran's anarchistic fun.
   Devotees also reverently pour a small bowl of water over statues of
Buddha which are displayed in temples, shopping malls, offices,
outdoors and in homes alongside bowls and water during Songkran.
   Purists insist Songkran should only be performed by people
politely, gently and respectfully pouring a small bowl of scented
water slowly over a willing person's outstretched hands, or some
delicate splashing for fun without aggressiveness or chaos.
   In reality, millions of people buy an array of monstrous-sized
water sprayers offered in department stores, supermarkets and street
stalls, and sometimes costume themselves in bizarre, partially
waterproof outfits.
   For many Thais and foreigners here, bigger is better, and some
water pistols have evolved into backpack-style plastic tanks with
feeder hoses connected to huge cylindrical plastic assault rifles
which pump far-reaching thick streams of water.
   Meanwhile, people are raising questions over the military regime's
seemingly disproportionate concern about bare nipples during Songkran
when police detained a handful of men for taking off their shirts
during public squirt gun fights.
   Police also detained several women for sexy public behavior,
showing too much flesh or wearing clothes which, when soaked, revealed
usually private parts of their bodies.
   "During Songkran, I ask that women wear proper clothes, Thai style,
so they would look good and civilized," Thailand's coup-installed
military leader Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters.
   Women "are like toffee or candy," which would not entice people to
eat if the sweet treat was already unwrapped by someone else, said Mr.
Prayuth who seized power in a bloodless May 2014 coup when he toppled
an elected civilian government and became prime minister.
   Many Thais like Songkran's activities but some people, including
foreign expats, expressed worry and anger about being doused without
their permission while walking in the street.
   They posted advice about hunkering down during daylight hours and
how to survive for several days with bulk purchases of food, alcohol
and other items.