Families mourn after rail tragedy

Relatives collect deceased loved ones as questions remain, write Prasit Tangprasert and Chakkrapan Natanri

- 

Workers use heavy machinery to remove debris from the site of the crane collapse in Sikhlu district, Nakhon Ratchasima. STATE RAILWAY OF THAILAND

Grief arrived before dawn at Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital on Jan 18, carried by families who had come not to seek treatment, but to take their loved ones home for the final time.

At the centre of the mourning was the Thantong family, whose loss has come to symbolise the human cost of the catastrophic crane collapse that struck a passenger train four days earlier.

Three coffins stood side by side as relatives gathered quietly around them. Inside were the remains of Somjit Thantong, 53, his wife Charinthorn Thantong, 52, and their eight-year-old son, Natchasaphon or “Kato” All three died together when a construction crane collapsed onto a train travelling from Krung Thep Aphiwat to Ubon Ratchathani on Jan 14.

The impact derailed carriages and sparked a fierce fire, leaving many bodies badly burned. In the Thantong family’s case, visual identification was impossible. DNA samples had to be taken from relatives before authorities could confirm their identities.

Anawin Singlo, 27, Charinthorn’s son, sat beside his mother’s coffin as rescue workers prepared to transfer the bodies. He lowered his head and cried, pressing his hands against the wooden lid. Family members lit incense and called the spirits of the dead, asking them to return home before the long journey to Si Sa Ket province, where religious rites would be held.

Nanthika Na Nakorn, the family’s sister-in-law, said the tragedy was made even harder by the family’s faith in rail travel.

“They loved travelling by train,” she said. “Especially little Kato,’ she added, using the boy’s nickname. “He liked watching the scenery along the way. His mother believed travelling by train was the safest way.”