TV crew left coffin, funeral pyre behind at tourist site

TV crew left coffin, funeral pyre behind at tourist site

The coffin and funeral pyre used for a scene in a TV melodrama left behind in Phu Hin Rong Kla national park in Loei province. (Photo taken Chian Martkaew's Facebook page)
The coffin and funeral pyre used for a scene in a TV melodrama left behind in Phu Hin Rong Kla national park in Loei province. (Photo taken Chian Martkaew's Facebook page)

A TV producer on Wednesday apologised to the public for having left behind a coffin, corpse and funeral pyre used as props in her new soap opera after shooting a scene at Phu Hin Rong Kla national park in Loei.

The lapse drew heavy criticism on social media.

Arunosha “Nong:’ Panuphan admitted the faux pas after a Pantip user posted a message asking whether it was appropriate for a TV production crew to leave a coffin and funeral pyre at a tourist site.

The message and photos of the forgotten items quickly went viral online. 

The props were used for the soap opera "Likhit Rak Kham Duangdao" (My love from another star), produced by Ms Arunosha. They were found by Chian Martkaew on Feb 5, who then made it public on Pantip website.  

The partly burned coffin, dummy corpse and pyre.(Photo taken from Chian Martkaew's Facebook page)

Thai media reported that Mr Chian and his friends had received permission from the national park chief to use motorcycles to travel to the area. They wanted to take photos of flowers in the Phu Lom Lo mountainous area in Dan Sai district of Loei province.

On the way, they were startled to come across the partly burned coffin - and quickly fled. They later returned to check and realised it contained a dummy corpse.

The TV producer said she had sought permission from national park authorities for the use of Phu Hin Rong Kla area for scenes in the melodrama. National park officials used the area to watch for forest fires and it was infrequently visited by other people, she said.

She insisted her production team did not actually forget the coffin. At the time, the crew was filming in another area.  They forgot to put a sign on the coffin. 

She regreted any panic they may have caused other visitors who came across the props.

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