Bangkok (dpa) – Thai police have summoned a 73-year-old man to face charges of causing public harm by publicizing a prophesy that one of the country's largest dams would burst on New Year's Eve, reports said Tuesday. Police in Tak province, 380 kilometers north of Bangkok, gave Thongbai Khamsi until January 10 to acknowledge the charge or face arrest, the Bangkok Post reported. Thongbai last month informed local media of a prophecy made by his son, a purported 5-year-old psychic, that the Bhumibol Dam would burst on December 31, 2011. It did not. The boy made the prophecy 37 years ago, shortly before his death. Thongbai claimed that his son had correctly predicted that a tsunami would hit Thailand in 2004. Provincial officials said the false prediction caused a drop of 90 per cent in tourist arrivals to Tak during the holiday season, and a loss of 400 million baht (13.3 million dollars) in income. In December 2010, a well-known soothsayer in Chiang Mai, 650 kilometers north of Bangkok, predicted that Thailand's south-western sea coast would be hit by another tsunami during the New Year season. That prediction, which proved false, led to a sharp decrease in tourist arrivals to popular southern beach resorts. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/LZyW3 Tags: Prophecy, Prophet, Thailand Section: East Asia, Latest News
