Relatives of a mass murder victim pray for a Buddhist ceremony inside the Wat Rat Samakee temple in Uthai Sawan, northeastern Thailand, Tuesday, October 11, 2022.
Sakchai Lalit / AP
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Sakchai Lalit / AP
Relatives of a mass murder victim pray for a Buddhist ceremony inside the Wat Rat Samakee temple in Uthai Sawan, northeastern Thailand, Tuesday, October 11, 2022.
Sakchai Lalit / AP
UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand – Families of last week’s victims Massacre at a day care center Tuesday gathered at Buddhist temples in rural northeastern Thailand to begin a joint cremation ceremony, marking the end of three days of funeral rites.
The gun and knife attack by a former police officer on Thursday on the Child Development Center in Uthai Sawan killed 36 people, including 24 children.
On Tuesday morning, many of the young victims’ bodies were dressed up as doctors, soldiers or astronauts – what they wanted to be when they grew up – before they were cremated in the evening.
Volunteer rescue worker Attarith Muangmangkang said his organization arranged costumes and assisted families in dressing the victims on Tuesday.
Attarith said: “The more we talked to families, the more we realized that these children also have dreams of becoming doctors, soldiers, astronauts or policemen. “We provided those uniforms for them.”
The mourners also placed children’s toys, candles and incense in front of portraits of the victims at Rat Samakee Temple, just 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the scene of the bloodshed.
Petchrung Sriphirom, 73, is one of many local residents who have come to the temple to offer condolences to the family and make a small donation to help with funeral costs, a common Thai tradition.
“I just wanted to help our friends and share our thoughts with them,” Petchrung said. “We are not talking about money or anything but sharing our thoughts and feelings as a human being”
Rat Samakee Temple will cremate 19 bodies in a simultaneous cremation ceremony on Tuesday night along with two nearby shrines for other victims.
Temples have installed makeshift pyrements to deal with the large number of bodies from Massacre last weekIt was the largest mass murder in the history of the country.
