It is winter in the northern hemisphere and although Thailand lies well within the tropics at this time of year a cold wind blowing in from the north east can cause the thermometer to drop sharply especially at night.
Folks in the hills of Northern Thailand are at risk and the cold temperatures can result in death especially for old people who are not prepared for the cold temperatures.
Here in this region of Thailand the cold is not usually more than an inconvenience however in Chonburi this week the cold temperatures claimed the life of a new born baby. The baby was born prematurely on the 21st of December. It is the normal routine to keep premature babies in special care facilities and maybe incubators until they are stronger. On this occasion the parents insisted on taking the baby home four days after it was born on December the 25th.
The parents it seems were not capable of caring for the baby in the cold snap following Christmas and the result was the baby died at only twelve days old.
Staff at Chonburi hospital are now carrying out a full post mortem to see if the cold weather was actually the main cause of death.
