It was gruesome advice for Samran Jan-young, but famed forensic scientist Pornthip Rojanasunand told him if he wanted to cope with the smell of the dead, he would have to inhale the odour and hold it in his lungs.
A masked man moves to spray the dead bodies to kill the bad smell at a temple where some 600 bodies are piled up in Khao Lak, north of the devastated Thai tourist resort island of Phuket, 29 December 2004, following the massive tsunami that slammed into the Thai coastline 26 December. Almost 4,100 people -- at least half of them Western holidaymakers -- are officially listed as missing and 1,657 were dead after the tidal waves ripped through beach resorts and coastline in Thailand. AFP PHOTO/ Saeed KHAN
"Doctor Pornthip taught us how to deal with the smell of decomposing corpses," Samran, now 56, recalled.
"She said if the smell bothers you, just inhale it all the way into your lungs. Three long breaths, and hold it. She said your nose will eventually adjust to the smell."
Samran never expected to become a body collector, or see death and sorrow on such a large scale. He lived behind the Nikorn Wararam temple and for 10 years had been its makkatayok — a layman who plays an important role in administrative affairs and religious rituals — when the tsunami struck.
On Boxing Day morning he was leading prayers at the temple, known locally as Wat Yan Yao, located 7km from the shoreline.
The first inkling that something was wrong came about 9am when his microphone cut out along with power to the temple. It wasn't until hundreds of evacuees started pouring into the area close to Takua Pa Hospital in the early afternoon that he became aware a major disaster had happened. By 2pm, the first group of injured had arrived at the hospital, along with 27 corpses.
The small hospital couldn't cope with the number of corpses arriving and asked Samran, who was in charge of temple matters in his position as makkatayok, if they could be stored at the temple pavilions. As the temple also doubles as a community service centre, Samran quickly agreed. He thought the temple could cope, but when the sun went down more and more corpses started to be delivered.
The situation was getting out of control, and by the time Pornthip arrived three days later with her forensic team, there were 800 corpses strewn around the temple grounds.
All three temple pavilions were filled with bodies in various states of decay, but still they continued to arrive. The temple had became Phangnga's largest temporary morgue and the epicentre of where most of the bodies were taken for identification via DNA tests, IDs and personal items.
Inmates from Surat Thani's central prison, Takua Pa prison and Phuket provincial prison had started making coffins the day after the tsunami struck. Women prisoners in Bangkok were also producing body bags and face masks, while students at technical colleges in Ayutthaya started making small coffins for children.
After the New Year, six-wheel trucks carrying hundreds of corpses started to arrive, Samran recalled. By now, there was not enough space in the temple grounds to lay the corpses, so they started stacking them in piles. "If you are not used to the corpses, you will find this image very disturbing," Samran said.
"I saw a high mountain of corpses. None of them were in a condition that anyone could recognise. That was really gruesome."
The military helped Pornthip move the corpses for DNA testing. She did not allow anyone without medical training inside the temple, but when Samran offered to liaise with locals searching for missing loved ones, she accepted his offer of help.
Samran played an important role as a go-between for families waiting outside the temple and Pornthip and her team conducting DNA tests.
He also said that no one would have wanted to see first-hand the horrific scene inside.
"The corpses that were inside the temple were not looking pleasant," he said. "Some of them had broken necks and the head could turn 360 degrees, some of them had their internal organs outside the body. The smell of the corpses was unbearable. We are talking about thousands of dead human bodies here."
- The Fisherman
- The Survivor
- The Rescue Pilot
- The Photographer
- The Searcher
- The Nurse
- The Body Collector
- The Animal Lovers
- The Returned
- The Benefactor
Once the DNA testing was completed on the bodies they were placed in large refrigerated containers lining the roads around the temple.
From the first day to Feb 16, about 3,000 corpses were delivered to the temple, Samran said.
He also conducted the cremation services inside the temple, on average six a day, on some of the identified bodies. "The cremation hall of the temple operated almost all day as there were so many corpses that need to be cremated," he said.
Eventually most of the bodies were identified through DNA testing and claimed by relatives for burial or cremation. However, 382 bodies from Phangnga and Phuket were unclaimed and buried at Bang Maruan cemetery in Phangnga.
Samran said after Pornthip's team left in February, the temple did not recover straight away and it took about a year for things to get back to normal. The forensic scientist later became embroiled in a dispute with the Royal Thai Police over sharing data to help identify bodies.
After they left the grounds were empty, but they had left behind unused coffins, rubber boots, plastic sheets, rolls of fabric, bottles of water and other equipment used by the medical team during the operation. Unwanted donor items were also still there.
"They did not leave the temple with those items," Samran said. "They left us to deal with that."
After the clean-up, the military came to the temple with a backhoe to dig up the ground and treat the soil with chemicals.
Through the whole macabre operation, Samran had his own tragedy to deal with. On the morning the tsunami struck, his eldest son Suraphan, a house painter, had gone to the Lame Prakarang area of Khao Lak for work. Samran had tried to phone him.
"My hands were shaking. This normal phone that I used on a daily basis I somehow had forgotten how to operate," he said. "After a while, I finally managed to dial his number but there was no phone signal where I used to get a full signal. I kept trying, but it didn't work."
Samran hopped on a motorcycle and headed to Khao Lak, but 10 minutes into his journey his path was blocked by debris from the tsunami.
He returned to the hospital and waited until he saw the six-man work team his son had left with in the morning arrive. He counted five men and was told by one of them Suraphan had not survived.
Samran said one of his motivations for staying at the temple was the hope that Suraphan's body would show up.
After five days of searching, another of his sons told him Suraphan's body had been found 300m from his truck in Lame Prakarang. It was taken to the temple where Samran presided over the religious ceremony himself.
"It was the saddest day of my life, but I am not the only one who lost someone." n
TODAY
Most of Samran’s 56 years have centred around Wat Yan Yao, and today the equanimity temple life has brought seems unchanged.
He was brought up and educated by the monks after being taken there as a boy and eventually found his lifelong vocation there as the makkatayok.
Today he still performs the same duties he did 10 years ago, rising early to help the monks collect alms and helping during religious ceremonies. He still lives near the temple with his wife and two surviving sons.
Samran talks with almost pride about what the temple contributed during the tragedy.
“One good thing after the temple was used as the operation centre to identify bodies was that it became well known,” he said. “Many people come to make merit at the temple and many volunteers came in to help renovate the temple.”
The donations have helped Wat Yan Yao rebuild the pavilions and upgrade the cremation hall, which would help them cope if a similar large-scale disaster occurred. “We now know how to handle the situation better,” he said. “We won’t lose as many lives as we did in 2004. But it would be best if nothing like this ever happened again.”
On the death of his own son, Samran was equally as calm. “Death is something we must accept. Being born, getting older and dying are part of life.” n