That brings to 10 the number of bikes destroyed during the day, starting with eight set on fire in Kathu in the early morning.
The toll yesterday almost doubles the reported number of bikes set on fire in the past two years, now totalling 22, though three of that number appear to have been set on fire through carelessness.
The first incident yesterday afternoon was on the Kamala-Patong road, opposite the Chang Club restaurant, where a motorbike with sidecar attached was completely destroyed. The other was on the Kamala-Laem-Son road, where a construction worker’s bike was half-burned.
Asked whether the bike fires around the island were connected, Kamala Police Station Superintendent Pol Col ML Pattanachakr Chakrabandhu said he did not think so, adding that three people have already been locked up in the past few months for burning bikes.
As for yesterdays’ incidents, he said he felt these two, as well, were unconnected. But, he added, “We still need to find more evidence that will point us to the arsonists.”
Meanwhile, the restaurant fire, across the road from Phuket FantaSea, appears to have been accidental. The restaurant lost its palm-leaf roof but suffered little damage apart from that.