The navy has been quick to reject as untrue a post on social media suggesting the pilot of the helicopter that caused an incident during a National Children's Day event in Chanthaburi province was drunk.
Navy spokesman Adm Pokkrong Monthatpalin issued the denial on Monday.
Eight people were injured, mostly children, when the helicopter flew above the marquee tents, causing them to collapse onto the crowd beneath, at Tha Chang municipality in Chanthaburi's Muang district on Saturday morning.
Afterwards, a woman posted on social media that a member of the flight crew of the helicopter was drunk while on duty.
Adm Pokkrong said this caused a misunderstanding, that she was referring to the pilot at the controls.
He said the crewman mentioned by the woman was not a pilot. He was a non-commissioned officer in the aircraft maintenance department who checked the helicopter's systems before the flight.
He was not drunk and was not flying on the helicopter when the incident occurred.
The department checked with the woman who put up the post. The woman said she did it just for fun, and had deleted the post, Adm Pokkrong said. He released no details about the woman.
