国际英语新闻:Thai authorities target stores selling alcohol to underage during New Year holiday

BANGKOK, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Thai police on Monday warned all alcohol stores against selling alcoholic beverages to the underage, or face heavy penalties.

The police are on a watch on retail stores that sell alcohol to those under the age of 20, especially during the New Year holiday as death toll for the first three days of the holiday season have already climbed to 159 on Sunday, said Pol Lt-Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapat, assistant national police chief and spokesman of the Center to Prevent and Reduce Road Accidents.

From our record, many of the drunk drivers involved in accidents were under 20, prompting the center to order officials to tighten up on the sale of alcohol to youths and take legal action against violators, said Damrongsak.

The Center to Prevent and Reduce Road Accidents said on Monday that 47 people were killed and 560 others injured in 531 road accidents on Sunday.

A total of 31.83 percent of the accidents were blamed on drunk driving and 30.89 percent on speeding.

Motorcycles were involved in 80.55 percent of the accidents.

Damrongsak said that over the past three days, a total of 216,804 traffic violators have been charged, including 58,550 cases of failing to wear crash helmets and 52,434 cases of driving without a license.