Relatives of victims mourn at Sri Uthai temple in Na Klang district, following a mass shooting in the town of Uthai Sawan in the province of Nong Bua Lam Phu, Thailand — Reuters UTHAI SAWAN, Oct 07 (AP): Relatives wailed and some collapsed as they grieved Friday over the small coffins carrying children slain by a fired police offer who stormed a day care centre in rural Thailand during naptime.
The entire country reeled in the wake of Thursday's grisly knife and gun attack in a small town nestled among rice paddies in one of the nation's poorest regions. At least 24 of the 36 people killed in the assault, Thailand's deadliest mass killing, were children.
"I cried until I had no more tears coming out of my eyes. They are running through my heart," said Seksan Sriraj, 28, who lost his pregnant wife due to give birth this month in the attack at the Young Children's Development Centre in Uthai Sawan.
"My wife and my child have gone to a peaceful place. I am alive and will have to live. If I can't go on, my wife and my child will be worried about me, and they won't be reborn in the next life," he said.
A stream of people, including Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, other government representatives and relatives themselves, have left flowers at the day care centre. By afternoon, bouquets of white roses and carnations lined the wall outside, along with five tiny juice boxes, bags of corn chips and a stuffed animal. A faded Thai flag flew at half-staff above the single-story building.
Later, relatives received the bodies at the local Buddhist temple. As the small, white coffins were opened, some screamed, while others fainted. Paramedics revived them with smelling salts.
"It was just too much. I can't accept this," said Oy Yodkhao, 51, sitting on a bamboo mat outside in the oppressive heat as relatives gave her water and gently mopped her brow.
Her 4-year-old grandson Tawatchai Sriphu was killed, and she said she worried for the child's siblings.
King Maha Vajiralong-korn and Queen Suthida were expected later in the day to go to hospitals, where seven of the 10 people wounded remain. A vigil was planned in a central park in Bangkok, the nation's capital.
Police identified the attacker as Panya Kamrap, 34, a former police sergeant fired earlier this year because of a drug charge involving methamphetamine. He had been due to appear in court Friday. An employee told a Thai TV station that Panya's son had attended the day care but hadn't been there for about a month.
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