Thai couple kiss for a record 46 hours

It was one long kiss for a couple – one record-breaking embrace for mankind.

A determined Thai couple locked lips for 46 hours, 24 minutes and nine seconds to celebrate Valentine's Day in Pattaya, emerging victorious after a "kissathon" organisers claim marked the longest recorded smooch in history.

The previous record of just over 32 hours was set in 2009 by a couple in Germany, according to Guinness World Records, whose officials will have to verify the latest milestone for it to become official. Fourteen couples kissed off the contest at 6am on Sunday. By Monday afternoon, half had already beaten the record and were still puckering up on the white-marble corridor of an oceanside shopping mall in the southern beach resort town.

Tourists gawked, smiled and snapped pictures with glowing mobiles behind a red rope.