Three-year-old Emmy was the only child to survive the attack on a daycare center in Thailand last Thursday. She was found alive next to the bodies of friends with whom she shared the same room.
According to the BBC, Emmy was sleeping next to a friend when former police officer Panya Kamrab burst into the room carrying a shotgun, pistol and knife. Several witnesses say the man first shot at nurseries, including an eight-month pregnant teacher, before entering three kindergarten classrooms.
It is not known how Emmy managed to survive. But she was found awake next to the bodies of the other children. “She had no idea what happened when she woke up,” her grandfather Somsak Srithong told the BBC.
“She thought friends were still asleep. A police officer then covered her face with a cloth and took her from that bloody spot,” he added. Rescue teams took Emmy to the second floor of the school to save her from the horror scene.
Emmy was the only child of the three rooms that the sniper stormed into the city of Nong Bua Lamphu to survive. A total of 37 people died in the massacre, including the attacker’s wife and stepson. 24 dead were children. The attacker committed suicide.
Emmy’s mother works in Bangkok during the week. When I heard the news that all the children at the nursery had died, I couldn’t believe my daughter was still alive. “When I video chatted with Emmy, I felt blessed with relief,” she told the BBC.
The true motive of the attack is still unknown. Police said Panya Kamrab was fired by security forces in June for drug use. Police suspect the attacker was under the influence of drugs at the time of the attack.
On that fateful day, dozens of victims’ relatives rushed to the kindergarten, which had been cordoned off by police, in search of information about the events and the identities of the victims.
Some of the desperate mothers had to receive medical attention, while others were comforted by other residents, according to images shared on social media by witnesses quoted by international agencies.
One of the nursery teachers described the terrifying moments and testified that the attacker “shot, broke glass and killed” adults and children.
Such attacks are rare in Thailand, but in February 2020, an army officer killed 29 people after arguing with a superior.
Source: DN
