Thailand: Souvenirs, flowers and pictures of smiling children who died while napping on blankets at a day care center in northeastern Thailand are displayed at a Buddhist temple where victims' families prayed on Saturday morning.

In a town nestled among rice paddies in one of Thailand's poorest regions, Wat Rat Samaki and two other temples found 36 bodies, 24 of them children and most of them preschoolers, on Friday.

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It is customary for mourners to spend the night at Wat Rat Samaki as a way for the young people to support each other.
According to Pensiri Thana, an aunt of one of the victims, "all the relatives are here to make merit on behalf of those who died."

She was referring to an important Buddhist ritual. She was one of the visitors who spent the night in the temple. It is our custom to spend time with children. We firmly believe that we must be with them to prevent loneliness.

No one in the small town was spared during the massacre, but local officials found that by helping others, they could temporarily escape their misery.

We all felt really bad in the beginning and found it difficult to accept it. All the officers are disappointed due to the presence of people. However, we need to take care of everyone including 30 victims. Somanyuk Thongthalai, a district officer in the area, said, “We are running around and taking care of people, giving them moral support.

A three-day mourning ceremony will be held before the royal-sponsored funeral, which will culminate in the cremation of bodies according to Buddhist tradition.

After leaving the daycare center on Thursday and killing his wife and son at home before taking their own lives, the perpetrator of Thailand's deadliest mass murder may never have had a clear motive.

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Late on Friday evening, seven victims of the attack, who are being treated in hospitals, went to meet King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida. In an effort to raise the spirits, the emperor reportedly met with the families of the victims.

In a rare public appearance, King told reporters, "It's a tragedy that this bad thing has happened. But for now, we should consider what we can do to make things as good as possible."

The exterior wall of the Uthai Sawan Young Children's Development Center is lined with bouquets of white roses and carnations, five small juice boxes, bags of corn chips and a stuffed animal.

The mourners and those who tried to help them thronged Wat Rat Samki.

“It was simply excessive. Oi Yodkhao, 51, was sitting on a bamboo mat in the sweltering heat on Friday as family members offered her water and gently wiped her brows. “I can’t accept it,” she said.

She expressed concern for Tawachai Srifu's siblings after receiving the news of her 4-year-old grandson's death. Three generations of a rice farmer's family live under the same roof, and they are an interconnected unit.

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Police had identified the attacker as 34-year-old Panya Kamrap, a former police sergeant who was sacked earlier this year due to a methamphetamine-related drug charge. According to Thai media, according to a daycare worker, Panya's son had attended but had not been there for almost a month.

In Thailand, which has the highest rate of civilian gun ownership in Asia (15.1 firearms per 100 people), mass shootings are uncommon but not unheard of. This is still well below the US rate of 120.5 per 100 people, according to a 2017 study by Australian non-profit organization GunPolicy.org.

The previous biggest mass killing in Thailand was in 2020 when a disgruntled soldier opened fire in and around a mall in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima, killing 29 people and being captured by security forces for nearly 16 hours.

The last deadliest attack on civilians was in 2015 when a bomb exploded at a Bangkok shrine, killing 20 people. The alleged perpetrators were human traffickers who were outraged by the actions on their networks.