Burial ceremonies for the victims of the massacre at a day care center in northeast Thailand began on Saturday. The religious ceremonies were organized under the patronage of the Thai king, the Bangkok Post reported.
The rites were held at three temples in the Na Klang community. According to the newspaper, these began on Saturday afternoon with the washing of the dead and should end on Tuesday with the cremation. King Maha Vajiralongkorn, officially known as Rama X, and Queen Suthida traveled to the northeastern province of Nong Bua Lamphu on Friday to visit the injured in hospital.
A police officer dismissed from service for drug offenses stormed the daycare center on Thursday and killed 23 children and several caregivers with a gun and a knife. He then killed his wife, their three-year-old son and finally himself at home. The incomprehensible act of violence that killed 36 people had shaken the Southeast Asian country to the core.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who also traveled to the region around 500 kilometers north of the capital Bangkok on Friday, expressed concern that the tragedy could become traumatic for the community, a government spokesman said on Saturday, according to the Bangkok Post. .
According to the police, 23 small children between the ages of two and four were among the victims, most of whom were taking a nap in the day care center at the time of the crime. Nearly a dozen other people were injured, some seriously. The motive of the 34-year-old is still not clear. He was released from police service in June after finding drugs on him. A court hearing is said to have taken place shortly before the bloody deed.
The body of the perpetrator was cremated at a temple in Udon Thani province on Saturday, according to Thai media. The procedure was “quiet and quick” at an unnamed temple after the temples in Nong Bua Lamphu refused to accept his body, the Khaosod newspaper tweeted.
