Thai diplomat killed in Bangladesh car accident

BANGKOK, Feb 19 (TNA) - A royally-sponsored bathing rite for the counsellor of the Thai embassy in Dhaka will be held on Friday at a Bangkok temple after the diplomat was killed in a car crash while on duty to facilitate a visit to Bangladesh by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

The body of Pannee Likanajul, 55, is due to arrive in Bangkok on Friday after she was terminally injured in a car crash in Bangladesh on Thursday and pronounced dead at a local hospital, according to Thani Thongpakdi, Deputy Director General of the Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Their Majesties the King and the Queen will support the funeral under royal patronage.

Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn will preside over the bathing rite at Wat Makut Kasattriyaram at 7pm Friday, Mr Thani said.

The United News of Bangladesh agency reported the princess's convoy was returning to Dhaka from northern Bangladesh where she had visited some health projects. The area is 72km north of the capital, Dhaka.

Mr Thani said Ms Pannee, a member of the team preparing for the visit by the princess, was at the project when the convoy left for Dhaka. The diplomat's car was hit by a speeding truck after she left later for the capital.

She was taken to Dhaka Combined Military Hospital where she was later pronounced dead, a surgeon at the hospital told local media.

The princess was in Bangladesh as a member of the research team of Bloomberg School of Public Health of John Hopkins University. (TNA)