Girl, 3, survives Thailand nursery massacre unscathed after sleeping through attack
A three-year-old girl miraculously survived the Thailand nursery massacre after sleeping through the ordeal covered in a blanket.
Paweenuch Supolwong emerged unscathed after former police officer Panya Kamrap killed 36 people, including 24 pre-school children as they were taking an afternoon nap, during the attack on Thursday.
She is believed to be the only person to escape uninjured after violence unfolded at a day care facility in the rural town of Uthai Sawan, in Thailand‘s deadliest mass killing.
Another boy, Sumaee, was stabbed and shot twice but survived after skilled neurosurgeons removed two bullets from his head.
Paweenuch was in a deep slumber facing a wall when the attacker burst into the building and did not see or hear the attack.
She survived because Kamrap, 34, believed she was already dead, her mother Anonpai Srithong said.
Rescue workers carried the three-year-old out of the centre with her eyes covered to avoid her witnessing the devastating scene of carnage.
Her best friend, who was sleeping next to her, was among the victims of the tragedy.
Mrs Srithong described her relief after learning her daughter was alive.
Paweenuch Supolwong, held by her mother Anonpai Srithong, waves goodbye to her deceased friends’ coffins inside a temple. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
At the time, she and her husband were at work in a Bangkok electronics factory almost 500 miles away from Uthai Sawan.
The couple moved to the Thai capital for work, leaving their three-year-old in their care of her grandmother, but made a panic-stricken journey back to the town after the attack.
“Breathing was difficult, I can’t describe it, but when I found out my child survived I was relieved,” Mrs Srithong told the Associated Press.
“But I also wanted to know if she had any injuries, if there was any collateral damage.”
Mrs Srithong said her cousin was also killed in the massacre.
“There’s both good luck hidden in bad luck – I’m lucky that my child is okay but I lost my cousin,” she said.
“For some people, some lost an only child who was their hope.”
Mrs Srithong and her daughter attended a Buddhist temple service to pay their respects to the victims.
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The scene of the Thailand massacre
Mourners have flocked to Paweenuch, tying dozens of white, yellow and red “soul strings” around her wrists in the hope of helping her spirit survive the atrocity.
They believe a person loses part of their soul when they experience such a tragedy.
“It is to bring the spirit back into her body,” her mother said.
“It’s like the spirit had left the body and it is being called back.”
Paweenuch’s relatives tie ‘soul strings’ around her wrist to help restore her spirit Pic: AP
Nanticha Panchom, the teacher who runs the day care centre, was in the kitchen when she heard a shot fired outside.
“I never thought he would go inside,” she said.
“I can’t even imagine what this lost generation will mean to the community.”
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Thailand prays for the children who died in the day care massacre
Police identified the attacker as Kamrap, who was fired over a drug charge.
He continued his killing spree after leaving the nursery, before shooting his wife and child at home then turning the gun on himself, police said.
Panya Khamrap carried out the massacre but killing himself. Pic: Shutterstock
Thailand’s government is giving compensation to families to help them pay for funeral expenses.
A team of trauma experts has been dispatched from Bangkok to work alongside local mental health professionals to help the victims.
A new aid system has opened its first distribution centres in Gaza, according to a US-backed organisation dealing with supplies.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began its operations in the territory on Monday, following the resignation of its director, Jake Wood, over its independence.
Gaza’s 2.3m population has been pushed towards famine by Israel’s almost three-month blockade.
Boxes of aid to be distributed across Rafah. Pic: Reuters.
The GHF said lorryloads of food – it did not say how many – had been delivered to its hubs, and distribution to Palestinians had begun.
“More trucks with aid will be delivered tomorrow, with the flow of aid increasing each day,” it said in a statement.
The controversial group, backed by Israel and the United States, has been rejected by the United Nations and other aid groups.
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People line up for food in Gaza
UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF.
They claim Israel is weaponising food, and the new distribution system will be ineffective and lead to further displacement of Palestinians.
They also argue the GHF will fail to meet local needs, and violates humanitarian principles that prohibit a warring party from controlling humanitarian assistance.
In the meantime, scores of Palestinians in Gaza, like Islam Abu Taima, have resorted to searching through rubbish to find food.
Palestinians are having to search through rubbish to find food
She found a small pile of cooked rice, scraps of bread, and a box with a few pieces of cheese inside it – which she said she will serve to her five children.
“We’re dying of hunger,” she told the Associated Press news agency.
“If we don’t eat, we’ll die.”
Islam Abu Taeima finds a piece of bread in a pile of rubbish in Gaza City. Pic: AP.
It is unclear how many of the GHF’s aid trucks will enter Gaza.
It claims it will reach one million Palestinians by the end of the week.
There are questions, however, over who is funding it and how it will work.
Trucks transporting aid for Palestinians in Rafah. Pic: Reuters.
It has been set up as part of an Israeli plan – rather than a UN distribution effort.
Israel, which suggested a similar plan earlier this year, has said it will not be involved in distributing the aid but supported the plan and would provide security.
It says aid deliveries into Gaza are taken by Hamas instead of going to civilians.
Aid groups, however, say there is no evidence of this happening on a systemic basis.
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Israel began to allow a limited amount of food into Gaza last week – after a blockade that prevented food, medicine, fuel and other goods from entering the Palestinian enclave.
A letter has been signed by hundreds of judges and lawyers calling on the UK government to impose trade sanctions on Israel.
It also calls for Israeli ministers to be sanctioned and the suspension of Israel from the UN over “serious breaches of international law”.
“Genocide is being perpetrated in Gaza or that, at a minimum, there is a serious risk of genocide,” the letter says.
The Israeli government has repeatedly dismissed allegations of genocide in Gaza.
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At least 31 dead after school attack
More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its ground invasion of Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, following the deadly attacks by the militant group on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
The health ministry’s figures do not differentiate between civilians and fighters in Gaza.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are being urged to use their visit to Canada to seek an apology for the abuse of British children.
Campaigners have called on them to pursue an apology for the “dire circumstances” suffered by so-called “Home Children” over decades.
More than 100,000 were shipped from orphan homes in the UK to Canada between 1869 and 1948 with many used as cheap labour, typically as farm workers and domestic servants. Many were subject to mistreatment and abuse.
Canada has resisted calls to follow the UK and Australia in apologising for its involvement in child migrant schemes.
King Charles and Mark Carney on Monday. Pic: PA
Campaigners for the Home Children say the royal visit presents a “great opportunity” for a change of heart.
“I would ask that King Charles uses his trip to request an apology,” John Jefkins told Sky News.
John’s father Bert was one of 115,000 British Home Children transported to Canada, arriving in 1914 with his brother Reggie.
“It’s really important for the Home Children themselves and for their descendants,” John said.
“It’s something we deserve and it’s really important for the healing process, as well as building awareness of the experience of the Home Children.
“They were treated very, very badly by the Canadian government at the time. A lot of them were abused, they were treated horribly. They were second-class citizens, lepers in a way.”
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The forgotten legacy of British children sent to Canada
John Jefkins
John added: “I think the King’s visit provides a great opportunity to reinforce our campaign and to pursue an apology because we’re part of the Commonwealth and King Charles is a new Head of the Commonwealth meeting a new Canadian prime minister. It’s a chance, for both, to look at the situation with a fresh eye.
“There’s much about this visit that looks on our sovereignty and who we are as Canadians, rightly so.
“I think it’s also right that in contemplating the country we built, we focus on the people who built it, many in the most trying of circumstances.”
The issue was addressed by the then Prince of Wales during a tour of Canada in May 2022. He said at the time: “We must find new ways to come to terms with the darker and more difficult aspects of the past.”
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King Charles and Queen Camilla are on a two-day visit to Canada.
On Tuesday, the King will deliver the Speech from the Throne to open the 45th session of Canada’s parliament.
Camilla was made Patron of Barnardo’s in 2016. The organisation sent tens of thousands of Home Children to Canada. She took on the role, having served as president since 2007.
Buckingham Palace has been contacted for comment.
A spokesperson for the Canadian government said: “The government of Canada is committed to keeping the memory of the British Home Children alive.
“Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada deeply regrets this unjust and discriminatory policy, which was in place from 1869 to 1948. Such an approach would have no place in modern Canada, and we must learn from past mistakes.”
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