The bodies of another 7 Thai nationals killed in the October 7 Hamas attack are being flown back to Thailand today. Thai PBS World reports that they are scheduled to arrive at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 10.35am today. They follow the remains of another 8 Thais, which arrived back in the kingdom last week.
The number of Thai citizens killed in the attack on Israel stands at 30, with 18 injured, and 19 still being held hostage. Yesterday, 320 Thai nationals who survived the attack arrived back in the kingdom on a government-sponsored repatriation flight.
One of the passengers has been named as 32-year-old Weeraphan Jabsangchan from the northern province of Phitsanuloke.
Speaking to reporters, he said he’d been a labourer on an Israeli plantation, near the border with Lebanon, for over 8 years. After the Hamas attack, he and another two Thai workers hid in their camp, which was near an Israeli military checkpoint.
“When the fighting took place near my camp, I could not go out to work. Some days, other Thais came to take shelter in my place. When the situation returned to normal, my employer asked me to work.”
Weeraphan says he decided he wanted to come home, afraid for his safety were he to remain in Israel. However, he says his employer refused to give him the two months’ salary he was owed.
Rather than fight the matter, Weeraphan decided to leave and return to Thailand, where officials from the Labour Ministry told him to file a complaint with provincial labour officials in Phitsanuloke. They will then alert the Foreign Ministry, who will raise the matter with the Israeli authorities.
To date, 4,150 Thai nationals have returned from the conflict zone. Over 8,400 Thais have registered to return, according to the Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv.
SOURCE: Thai PBS World
