Thai authorities on Sunday fined two CNN journalists for working in the country on tourist visas but cleared them of wrongdoing for entering the day care centre where more than 20 children were massacred, saying they had filmed inside believing they had obtained permission.
Deputy national police chief Surachate Hakparn said the journalists had been waved into the building by a volunteer or a health officer, but did not know the person was not authorised to allow them inside, reports AP.
They each agreed to pay fines of 5,000 baht ($133) and leave the country after admitting to working despite entering Thailand on tourist visas, he said.
Authorities began looking into the incident after a Thai reporter posted an image on social media of two members of the crew leaving the scene in northeastern Thailand where a fired policeman on Thursday massacred 36 people, 24 of them children. One CNN crew member was seen climbing over the low wall and fence around the compound, over police tape, and the other already outside.
CNN tweeted that the crew had entered the premises when the police cordon had been removed from the centre, and were told by three public health officials exiting the building that they could film inside.