Father blames bird flu cover-up for son's death

Just hours after his six-year-old son died of bird flu, a tearful Chamnan Boonmanut today accused the Thai government of covering up the outbreak and failing to provide information that could have saved his child’s life.

“The government knew, so why didn’t they tell the public so that we could protect ourselves?” said Chamnan, a farmer. “Nobody wants to get sick and die.”

After weeks of denial, the Thai government admitted on Friday that bird flu had erupted in the country.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he had suspected “for a couple of weeks” that the disease had appeared in the kingdom, but he kept it quiet for fear of sparking a nationwide panic.

Livestock Development Department officials established that chickens were dying of bird flu in Thailand as early as November, executive editor Kavi Chongkittavorn wrote in an editorial for The Nation newspaper Monday.

But they kept it under wraps, Kavi said, for fear the news would damage the €726.4m poultry industry in Thailand, the world’s fourth-biggest exporter of chicken products.

“The Thaksin government has been caught red-handed in lying to the people,” Kavi said. “Certainly, the government only came clean when it was evident that the bird flu had claimed at least one human life. Otherwise, the cover-up would have continued.”

But now Thailand could be suffering for the government’s silence.

Thailand admitted today that Chamnan’s son, Captan, had died of bird flu – the country’s first fatal case – and said another person had tested positive for the virus. Seven people have died of the outbreak in Asia, including six in Vietnam.

Thailand has culled about 10 million chickens. The Agriculture Ministry said today that chicken samples have tested positive for bird flu in 10 provinces, including in Kanchanaburi where Chamnan’s family lives.

Chamnan said his son became ill after he visited a friend’s house where he was given one of a number of dying chickens. The son took the bird to a butcher to be slaughtered for consumption.

“They covered it up, and they should have told the people so that we could protect ourselves,” Chamnan said.