The Beach goes on trial

Filmmakers of The Beach face allegations they caused ecological disaster shooting in Thailand.

A Thai court will hear this week that they ravaged a cove at Maya Bay, stripping rare plants and eroding sands.

Environmentalists are backing a multi-millionpound claim by local officials that the production caused irreparable damage when they attempted to give the cove at Phi Phi Le, part of a national park, a more tropical feel by planting palm trees and widening the sand. In the process, environmentalists say, it was left vulnerable to erosion during monsoon season and huge quantities of sand were washed away.

The case was thrown out four years ago on the grounds filming had ended, but was reinstated this year by Thailand's Appeal Court and will start tomorrow. The film, based on the Alex Garland book, tells the story of a backpacker played by Leonardo DiCaprio. The lawsuit names distributor 20th Century Fox, along with Thailand's Forestry Department and Agriculture Ministry who are said to have given permission for filming.

Local residents and the Krabi Provincial Administration are demanding £2million for repairs and say the film broke laws to protect national parks. They claim the sand washed out could destroy coral reefs.

Lawyers for the studio say the erosion was caused by abnormally powerful storms. The studio claims it may even have improved the area, as it shipped away rubbish that had washed ashore.