A kiss lasting nearly two-and-a-half days propelled one determined
Thai couple to a new record for the world's longest smooch on
Valentine's Day.
Hospital security guard Ekkachai Tiranarat, 44, and 33-year-old
housewife Laksana locked lips for 58 hours, 35 minutes and 58
seconds, smashing last year's Guinness World Record by more than
eight hours.
The romance of the clinch may have been marred by competition rules
requiring contestants to remain on their feet throughout, slurp
food and liquids through a straw and even go to the toilet while
continuing to press their lips together.
"They were very exhausted because they did not sleep for
two-and-a-half days, they had to stand all the time so they were
very weak," Sompron Naksuetrong, vice president of event organiser
Ripley's Believe It or Not!, told AFP.
The "kissathon" ended shortly before midnight on Valentine's Day,
with the male couple who won last year unable to maintain their
smooch, collapsing just two minutes before Ekkachai and
Laksana.
The pair won 100,000 baht ($3,300) cash and two diamond rings.
Organisers said they did not plan to hold another competition next
year after three straight years of bettering the record in Thailand
and will wait for a challenge in another country.