The family of bank worker Pranee Srisuwa was told on Monday night that she had died in the bomb blast. But it wasn’t until Tuesday — after a cruel case of misidentification — that her death was confirmed.
Her sister Kanya Mayoon, 35, said after the Erawan Shrine bomb went off her father, 64, and mother, 60, were glued to the television in Bung Kan province in the Northeast watching the breaking news. Pranee worked at the SME loan department at Standard Chartered Bank in Bangkok and they sensed they should ring to check if she was alright. “Usually, my sister Pranee called my mother on a daily basis. She didn’t call that day,” Ms Kanya said.
“Pranee did not answer the call from mother that night, or a hundred other calls from friends and relatives. A few minutes later, a police officer called and said, ‘Is this Ms Pranee’s relative? I’m sorry to inform you that she passed away.’ ”
That news was a shock for the whole family. Ms Kanya called Pranee’s husband, Samran Reng-gnan, a naval officer working at the Satthahip Naval Base in Chon Buri province, to give him the sad news.
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Mr Samran travelled to Bangkok, where he met Pranee’s brother and two friends who went to identify the body at Chulalongkorn hospital.
“When he arrived, he saw his wife’s bag placed near a body, but the body wasn’t her,” Ms Kanya said. “After her husband phoned to tell us the news, we started to maintain our hopes that maybe she wasn’t dead. We hoped she was injured instead, no matter how badly.”
Pranee’s body wasn’t identified on Monday night. With dim hope flickering, the family started to look for clues about where she might be.
They checked news on television, video clips and social media for her name on hospital lists. Their search proved fruitless.
On Tuesday morning, the family went back to Chulalongkorn Hospital and were told to inspect the body of a 50-year-old woman.
“We had hopes,” Ms Kanya said. “We thought, ‘Pranee is only 39, this isn’t supposed to be her.’ ”
But it was. Mr Samran, who went to Chulalongkorn Hospital in the afternoon, barely recognised his wife from the burns and injuries.
“On Tuesday afternoon, my brother-in-law brought her home to Bung Kan,” Ms Kanya said.
According to Ms Kanya, the funeral was packed with mourners, not only because of the bombing headlines but because of the kindness her sister had shown to others while alive.
“She worked in Bangkok for the past 10 years and whenever she visited her home town she always brought something for everyone,” Ms Kanya said. “For example, if she came home during Songkran festival, 20-30 people, old and young, would get T-shirts from her, in different sizes.
“Most importantly, she took such good care of our parents. When she came home, she always took care of the food, made sure they had good things to eat. She brought home a big bottle of nutritional supplements for them. If she had a bonus from work, she would spend it on taking them for a check-up at a private hospital.”
What was most touching for Ms Kanya as a sister was how Pranee’s husband broke down publicly for the first time.
“He is a soldier and never cries. But at the funeral, he broke into tears.
“During the funeral, he lit a joss stick and brought some food to her coffin and sat down and ate as if he was eating with her.
“He said, ‘She took care of me so well. She made sure my clothes were clean and my shoes were shined.’ ”
On Monday night, Pranee, along with her work colleague Suchada Nisrida, 32, was travelling home from work.
On a usual weekday, Pranee would take a bus back to her place in the Din Daeng area, where she spent the weeknights. On weekends, she usually travelled to Chon Buri to stay with Mr Samran.
On Monday night, Pranee and Suchada felt they needed to pray. They made a stop at the Erawan Shrine. As the bomb went off five minutes before 7pm, Suchada was killed on the spot. Pranee sustained injuries to her left leg and severe burns, according to local media reports, before being transported to Chulalongkorn Hospital.
Tongpad Nisrida, 58, Suchada’s mother, was at home in Chiang Khan district, Loei province. She said her daughter was making her way home to Samut Prakan that evening.
“On Monday night, I called my son, Suchada’s brother, to ask where she was, but he said she was home already. I found out later he didn’t want to tell me just yet.”
By Tuesday morning, relatives informed Ms Tongpad of Suchada’s death. “When I learned the news, I cried so hard because I spoke to her for the last time that afternoon as she told me she had won money in a lottery and that it would be sent to me.”
Suchada’s body was taken from the Police General Hospital to her home town by her sister and husband.
Suchada lived in the city with her husband. Together they have a nine-year-old daughter who stays with Ms Tongpad while her parents work in Bangkok.
“Her daughter was asking every day when her mother would be coming home,” Ms Tongpad said. “As for me, I haven’t eaten or slept since the news of her death. At night I lie awake until dawn because if I close my eyes I see her face.
“All of her friends came to the funeral because she was such a good student in school and she had a lot of friends.
“When she was alive, she would call me every day, usually at noon as she knew I was cooking, and she would ask, ‘Have you had anything to eat? What are you cooking today?’ ”
Close colleagues: Suchada Nisrida and Pranee Srisuwa were killed at the shrine after work.