Natural Resources and Environment Minister Prapat Panyachatraksa today expressed concern for the fate of fossilized Malabar ironwood trees thought to be over 800,000 years old discovered in Tak Province in Thailand, urging local people and tourists to leave them alone.

Mr. Prapat said that reports from Thailand's Department of Mineral Resources suggested that the fossilized Malabar ironwood logs, discovered in the Mae Salit-Pong Daeng Forestry Reserve, were the largest and most complete of their kind ever to have been found in Thailand.

The giant logs have a diameter of around 1.80 metres, and are 20 metres long. They are buried in sediment, believed to be from an ancient river which preceded the Ping River, and are thought to date back 800,000 years.

Mr. Prapat said that other fossilized logs of varying sizes had also been discovered in the same area, and that the Department of Mineral Resources and the Botanical Gardens Agency of Thailand had now been asked to carry out a thorough review of the area.

Nonetheless, he expressed concern that the fossils could face threats from local residents and tourists.

I'm worried that the release of this news will cause crowds of local residents and tourists to come and see the fossils, as the place where they were discovered is only three kilometres from Baan Tak district, and is also near the tourist area of Khao Phrabat. I am afraid that unwitting tourists will touch the ancient wood and take pieces home with them for themselves. This could damage the fossils.

Stressing that the fossilized logs were extremely rare, he called on local Thai people to protect the fossils as part of Thailand's natural heritage.