A flooded restaurant in Thailand brings delight with swimming fish among diners

NAKHON PATHOM, Thailand (AP) — A restaurant in central Thailand was bursting with a stream of customers coming for a unique dining experience: Enjoying a meal while sitting in flood waters, surrounded by live fish they bring into the establishment.

Since an adjacent river breached its banks 11 days ago, the flooded riverside restaurant has become an internet sensation, drawing customers keen to pose in the lapping brown water or toss fish food to photograph the feeding frenzy.

Families enjoyed lunch at Pa Jit restaurant in Nakhon Pathom province, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Bangkok, with enthralled toddlers gawping at the river fish flapping around their thighs. Wait staff in waders gingerly carried bowls of fish soup or chicken noodles from table to table.

Pa Jit has been a riverside fixture for more than 30 years, said owner Pornkamol Prangprempree. When the restaurant was flooded the first time around four years ago, her heart sank.

“I thought there would be no customer for sure,” she said. “But then there was a customer who posted online showing that there were fish. Then a lot of people flocked here to eat.”

She said floods have boosted her business, with her profits doubling from around 10,000 baht ($309) to around 20,000 baht ($618) per day.

Chomphunuth Khantaniti, a 29-year-old who lives in the same province, was there with her husband and son. She said when she heard, she couldn’t resist.

“I think it’s good, because we can bring the children here. When the children see the fish, they become less fussy," she said. “I think in Thailand, there’s only this place where you can see fish coming up like this.”

Bella Windy, 63, came to the restaurant because she wanted to feel the fish nibbling on her feet.

“Normally, if the water is very high, the fish will come here. The nature experience here is the highlight of this restaurant and it attracts people.”

Pa Jit can expect another few weeks of inundation, as high tides and the tail-end of the monsoon season keep water levels up.

Though the flooding has brought an unusual boon to Pa Jit, it has devastated many other areas of Thailand. Since late July, 12 people were killed and two went missing due to flooding, according to data from the Department of Disaster Prevention and mitigation.

On Friday, it reported that more than 480,000 people in 13 provinces, particularly in the north and the central, were affected by floods.

Diners at the Pa Jit restaurant feed fish in the aisles that come from floods from the Tha Chin River in Thailand's Nakhon Pathom province, west of Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Diners at the Pa Jit restaurant take vdo fish in the aisles that come from floods from the Tha Chin River in Thailand's Nakhon Pathom province, west of Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Diners at the Pa Jit restaurant enjoy their meals as fish swim in the aisles due to flooding from the Tha Chin River in Thailand's Nakhon Pathom Province west of Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Diners at the Pa Jit restaurant enjoy their meals as fish swim in the aisles due to flooding from the Tha Chin River in Thailand's Nakhon Pathom Province west of Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Diners at the Pa Jit restaurant watch fish swim in the aisles due to flooding from the Tha Chin River in Thailand's Nakhon Pathom Province west of Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

COTONOU, Benin (AP) — A coup that was announced in Benin on Sunday has been “foiled,” the interior minister said in a video on Facebook.

“In the early morning of Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, a small group of soldiers launched a mutiny with the aim of destabilizing the state and its institutions,” Alassane Seidou said. “Faced with this situation, the Beninese Armed Forces and their leadership, true to their oath, remained committed to the republic.”

Earlier, a group of soldiers had appeared on Benin ’s state TV Sunday to announce the dissolution of the government in an apparent coup, the latest of many in West Africa.

The group, which called itself the Military Committee for Refoundation, announced the removal of the president and all state institutions. Lt. Col. Pascal Tigri was appointed president of the military committee, the soldiers said.

Following its independence from France in 1960, the West African nation witnessed multiple coups, especially in the decades following its independence. Since 1991, the country has been politically stable following the two-decade rule of Marxist-Leninist Mathieu Kérékou.

There has been no official news about President Patrice Talon since gunshots were heard around the presidential residence. However, the signal to the state television and public radio, which was cut off, has now been restored.

The regional bloc, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), condemned the coup bid in a statement.

“ECOWAS strongly condemns this unconstitutional move that represents a subversion of the will of the people of Benin. ... ECOWAS will support the Government and the people in all forms necessary to defend the Constitution and the territorial integrity of Benin,” the bloc said in a statement.

Talon has been in power since 2016 and is due to step down next April after the presidential election.

Talon’s party pick, former Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni, is the favorite to win the election. Opposition candidate Renaud Agbodjo was rejected by the electoral commission on the grounds that he did not have sufficient sponsors.

In January, two associates of Talon were sentenced to 20 years in prison for an alleged 2024 coup plot.

Last month, the country’s legislature extended the presidential term of office from five to seven years, keeping the term limit at two.

The coup attempt is the latest in a string of military takeovers that have rocked West Africa. Last month, a military coup in Guinea-Bissau removed former President Umaro Embalo after a contested election in which both he and the opposition candidate declared themselves winners.

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Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria.

People gather near a roadway amid an attempted coup in Cotonou, Benin, Sunday Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo)

People on motorcycles pass by soldiers guarding a street amid an attempted coup in Cotonou Benin, Sunday Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo)

Soldiers ride in a military vehicle along a street amid an attempted coup in Cotonou Benin, Sunday Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo)

FILE - Benin's President Patrice Talon attends a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on May 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)