Maj Tanchaiyan Tantiamnuoy announced the news after his team of experts from the Mine Squadron of Royal Thai Navy inspected the object, still located on Nai Yang Beach, at 9am today (Oct 12).
“We believe the object is a float used to clear underwater mines,” Maj Tanchaiyan said.
“These floats were used during World War II,” he explained.
“The size of the floats used vary, and this one is very big,” he added.
Maj Tanchaiyan said his team believes the object is an “Oropesa Minsweeping Float” as devised by the British during World War II (click here).
“We are not sure where it came from, but we believe that it is not one used by Thailand,” he said.
“We are very sure that the float is not dangerous,” Maj Tanchaiyan stressed.
“I want to tell people not to panic. We will hand this over to the EOD team from the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command base in Phang Nga to handle,” he added.
“However, the object will be X-rayed to make sure is is safe before the object is moved to a safe area or for further study,” Maj Tanchaiyan said.