

The monarch met with family members of the victims in what he said was a bid to boost morale. Late Friday, King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida visited hospitals where seven people wounded in the attack are being treated. No clear motive may ever be known for Thailand’s deadliest mass killing after the perpetrator left the day care center Thursday and killed his wife and son at home before taking his own life. We are running around and taking care of the people, giving them moral support,” Somneuk Thongthalai, a local district official, said.Ī mourning ceremony will continue for three days before the royal-sponsored funerals, which will culminate in the cremation of the bodies according to Buddhist tradition. But we have to look after everyone, all these 30 victims. All the officials feel sad with the people here. “At first, all of us felt so terrible and couldn’t accept this. The massacre left no one untouched in the small town, but community officials found helping others was helping assuage their own grief, at least momentarily. It is our belief that we should be with them so they are not lonely.” “It is a tradition that we keep company with our young ones.
She was among those staying the night at the temple. “All the relatives are here to make merit on behalf of those who died,” said Pensiri Thana, an aunt of one of the victims, referring to an important Buddhist practice. Several mourners stayed at Wat Rat Samakee overnight in the tradition of keeping company for those who died young. UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand (AP) - Grief-stricken families prayed Saturday at a Buddhist temple filled with children’s keepsakes, flowers and photos of the smiling toddlers who were slain as they napped on blankets at a day care center in northeastern Thailand.Ĭoffins containing the 36 killed, 24 of them children and most of them preschoolers, were released Friday and placed inside Wat Rat Samakee and two other temples in the town nestled among rice paddies in one of Thailand’s poorest regions.
