Heartbreaking question asked by 3-year-old nursery massacre survivor | World | News

Nobody anticipated three-year-old Paweenuch Supholwong would survive and live to recount what she’s been through.

As a gunman burst into her nursery in the peaceful Thai town of Uthai Sawan, she lay fast asleep beneath a blanket, alongside her classmates.

When emergency services arrived, she was the sole child discovered alive and unharmed – in a bloodbath which took the lives of 36 people, including 24 children.

During the horrific attack, Paweenuch – affectionately called “Ammy” by relatives and locals – remained sound asleep under her blanket, surrounded by her companions and fellow pupils.

As the gunman burst into the room, he slaughtered the children around her but left her unharmed, reports The Mirror.

Her mum, Panomplai Srithong, believes he mistook her daughter for one of the already deceased victims.

Following the end of the rampage, rescuers found the girl still asleep. They took her away from the scene with her eyes covered, protecting her from witnessing the carnage inside.

A second child survived with severe injuries and was rushed to hospital.

The catastrophe, which occurred in October 2022, shattered the small agricultural community of Uthai Sawan in Thailand’s Nong Bua Lamphu province.

The perpetrator, named by police as 34-year-old ex-police officer Panya Kamrap, had been sacked from the force earlier that year following drug-related allegations.

Following the slaughter, he proceeded to murder his wife and young son before taking his own life. Officials have never established a definitive motive.

Locals insist such horrific violence was utterly inconceivable in their tranquil township, where neighbours know each other intimately and families routinely help nurture one another’s children.

Paweenuch’s parents, who worked at a Bangkok electronics factory, were hundreds of miles away when they received the initial reports that their daughter’s nursery had come under attack. Early messages said there had been no survivors.

“Breathing was difficult,” her mother said. “But when I found out my child survived, I was relieved – and I wanted to know if she had any injuries, if there was any damage.”

When they eventually arrived in Uthai Sawan following an arduous overnight journey, they discovered their daughter secure in her grandmother’s embrace.

Although she had escaped physical injury, she posed one heartbreaking question – she wondered where her closest friend had gone.

The pair had been sleeping peacefully alongside each other that morning.

Her grandmother tenderly explained that her friend had “passed.” “That’s when she found out,” her mother said.

During the subsequent days, villagers assembled at neighbourhood temples to mourn, pray and pay tribute to those murdered.

They also visited to see the little girl whose survival had been characterised by relatives as “a miracle.”

Dozens of white, yellow and red “soul strings” were tied around her tiny wrists by mourners, a part of a Buddhist ritual designed to summon back a person’s spirit after trauma.

Her mother clarified, “It is to bring the spirit back into her body,” she said. “It’s like the spirit had left the body and it is being called back.”

Panomplai lost a cousin in the massacre, one of the many adults killed outside the nursery as they tried to reach the children inside. “There’s both good luck hidden in bad luck,” she said.

“I’m lucky my child is okay, but I lost my cousin. Some people lost their only child, their hope.”

The nursery, catering for about 90 local children, is situated next to the district’s administrative offices and opposite a sugar cane field. On the day of the attack, several factors – including monsoon flooding and a broken school bus – kept many children away, potentially saving more lives.

Nanticha Panchom, who manages the day care, was in the kitchen preparing lunch when the shooting began. She recalled the pandemonium, saying, “I never thought he would go inside,” she said.

“It is almost impossible to imagine what this will mean for our township. We have lost so many children – our future.”

Local officials shared similar feelings. Chuanpit Geawthong, who works in the neighbouring office and frequently saw the kids, said the assault destroyed the feeling of security that had always characterised Uthai Sawan.

“Even during COVID, we did not lose anyone,” she said. “This is something that affects everyone. Our families are all connected, and now everyone here is grieving.”

The Thai authorities acted swiftly, dispatching trauma specialists from Bangkok to deliver psychological care and providing financial aid of at least 310,000 baht (approximately £7,000) per affected household to help with burial expenses and urgent costs.