The body of Chamaiporn Homsantia, a 29-year-old traditional masseuse who was killed by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Turkey on Feb 6, arrived in Nong Bua Rawe district of her home province of Chaiyaphum early Friday.
A Red Cross Society van carrying the coffin of Chamaiporn and a car of the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Department of Consular Affairs arrived at her home at Huay Yae village around 4am.
The woman was reportedly asleep when the deadly earthquake struck the southern Turkish town of Iskenderun, where she worked.
Her father Khen Homsantia, 53, mother Boonchu, 56, relatives, residents and the district chief expressed their grievances, as officials from the Department of Consular Affairs escorted the body to her home.
Chamaiporn had reportedly worked in Turkey without documentation for four years. She had travelled to Turkey on a tourist visa and was not registered with the Labour Ministry’s Thailand Overseas Employment Administration Fund, which provides compensation for workers injured or killed overseas.
The social security office of Chaiyaphum said Chamaiporn quit the social security fund in 2015 and had pending benefits of only 15,017 baht. The money had been paid to her family for funeral arrangements.
A Thai air force plane transporting Thais from quake-hit Turkey and the body of a woman killed by the disaster arrives in Thailand at 9.30pm on Thursday. (Photo: Nutthawat Wicheanbut)
On Monday, Chaiyaphum governor Sopon Suwanrat visited the woman's home and gave 5,000 baht of his personal money to her family to show his support.
Friends, teachers and other people who learned about her death donated more than 160,000 baht to the family for funeral rites, which would be held at her house for three nights, starting from Friday. The cremation will be held at Pha Samakkhitham temple in Huay Yae village on Monday.
Her family had reportedly signed a loan contract to borrow more than 200,000 baht from the Foreign Ministry’s Nakhon Ratchasima office to cover the expenses for bringing their daughter back home.
Their worries eased when consular officials told them that there were no expenses for the return of the body.
A van carrying the body of Chamaiporn Homsantia arrives in Nong Bua Rawe district of her home province of Chaiyaphum early Friday. (Photo: Makkawan Wannakul)
Relatives gather inside the house as Chamaiporn Homsantia’s body arrives early Friday. (Photo: Makkawan Wannakul)