The longest kiss in history: A 46-hour smooch!

An attempt to break the world record for the longest kiss in Pattaya saw seven couples break the previous world record.

A Thai couple has made history with the longest kiss ever during a Valentine's Day 'kissathon' after they locked lips for 46 hours, 24 minutes and nine seconds.

Organisers of the event, which took place at the southern beach resort town of Pattaya, claim it marked the longest recorded smooch in history.

"We didn't think we would find anybody that could break the record," CBS News quoted Somporn Naksuetrong, the manager of Pattaya's Louis Tussaud's Waxworks Museum, which organised the competition, as saying.

Fourteen couples started off the contest at 6 am on February 13, and by the afternoon of February 14, half had already beaten the record and were still smooching away in the corridor of an oceanside shopping mall.

A Bangkok couple, Ekkachai and Laksana Tiranarat, emerged the winners, and they were awarded a diamond ring worth 50,000 Thai Baht (1,606 dollars), and a cash prize of 100,000 Baht (3,213 dollars).

According to Guinness World Records, whose officials will have to verify the latest milestone for it to be recognised, the previous record of just over 32 hours had been set by German couple Nikola Matovic and Kristina Reinhart in 2009.

The rule for the kissathon is that couples should lock lips all the time. If they wish to have a drink, they have to do so using straws while continuing the kiss. And if they wish to use the bathroom, they have to continue embracing each other, while accompanied by contest monitors. But the harshest rule was no sitting or sleeping.

Photograph: Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters