Whangarei businesswoman Tania Dunn is taking her family for a holiday to Bangkok next month undeterred by news that a bomb explosion in the popular tourist destination has claimed several lives.
Mrs Dunn, husband Paul, and their daughter will fly out in three weeks for a 12-day holiday that will also take them to Singapore. She was surprised Bangkok had been targeted in a terror attack.
A bomb exploded at a popular shrine in central Bangkok during evening rush hour on Tuesday, killing at least 19 people, injuring more than 100 and leaving body parts strewn across the streets of a neighbourhood full of five-star hotels and upmarket shopping malls. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, which caused the worst carnage of any single attack in recent memory in the Thai capital.
"I'd be very surprised if a local is behind what happened because I know, having lived there for two years, that Thai are beautiful people so it's very unusual that it's happened," Mrs Dunn said.
The Dunns own boat business Marine North in Kioreroa Rd, Whangarei. They lived in central Bangkok where Mr Dunn worked at a telecommunications company before the family returned to Whangarei eight years ago.
