THE GLOBAL WORLD: Thailand’s day care massacre unites families and a country in grief

Friday, October 7, 2022

Thailand’s day care massacre unites families and a country in grief

From the Website of CNN NEWS
links: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/07/asia/thailand-mass-shooting-stabbing-day-care-victims-families-intl-hnk/index.html

Thailand’s day care massacre unites families and a country in grief

Uthai Sawan, ThailandCNN —

Smears of dried blood still stained the wooden floor of a classroom in northern Thailand on Friday, a day after the country’s worst massacre unfolded in perhaps one of the most unlikely places.

At the Child Development Center Uthai Sawan, school bags sat uncollected on colored shelves, and photos of children smiled from the wall, clipped into place with pegs near cardboard cut-outs of ladybirds.

Outside, sobbing parents sat on blue plastic chairs in a makeshift shed, nursing their grief and clinging to each other and their children’s blankets and bottles, any reminder of life, as officials finalized plans for a visit from the country’s top leaders.

More than 20 young children ages 2-5 lost their lives in this classroom during nap time on Thursday when a former policeman armed with a knife and handgun forced his way inside and slashed them in their sleep.

In a strange mix of grief and grandeur, at the center’s front door, a red carpet had been rolled out for the delivery of a floral wreath, a gift from the Royal Highness Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya, the King’s youngest daughter.

Later Friday, King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida are due to fly north from the Grand Palace in Bangkok to meet the families of the dead and the six injured, still receiving medical care in Nong Bua Lamphu Hospital.

Their visit will follow that of the country’s prime minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, who arrived earlier Friday. Prayut met with families at the relief center set up by the government, visited hospitalized survivors and laid flowers outside the day care.

Thailand is accustomed to the underlying tensions that come in a nation governed by leaders of a military coup, but violence of the type perpetrated on Thursday is rare. The last mass death in the southeast Asian country was two years ago, when a former soldier went on a rampage at a military site before targeting shoppers at a mall in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, known as Korat, further south.

In that case, the shooter was said to have erupted after an argument with another soldier over a land-selling commission fee. In this case, the motive is unclear but after terrorizing the childcare center, Panya Kamrab, a 34-year-old former policeman drove home and shot his wife and child, before taking his own life.