On Mother Day's weekend, terrorists detonated 24 bombs in seven southern provinces -- Trang, Krabi, Phangnga, Phuket, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Prachuap Khiri Khan. Four civilians were killed.
One week later, Spectrum interviewed the families and friends of the victims, who were described as everyday heroes. Each of them had in common the fact they were decent ordinary people who got caught up in an unexpected tragedy.
On the weekend of the bombings, Jongkolnee Phumkrajang left home early in the morning to clean up the streets. Sakonnathach Deesukon had just closed her massage shop. Natcha Suvanphorm was preparing her restaurant business to receive more clients during the long weekend. Picherd Wiriyanupappong had finished kneading the dough to make pa thong ko before the fateful incident that changed the course of his family's life.
On Nov 11, three months after the bombings, Wanthanee Wiriyanupappong, Picherd's wife, was asked to speak about her experience of losing a loved one and how she has coped with it. She spoke in Trang city centre to a crowd about Picherd's positive outlook in life and how he wouldn't want people to dwell on being sad about his death.
Ms Wanthanee was injured alongside her husband in the blast and barely survived. The incident left her with several severe scars that will take around a year to recover from. She's had to stop working in the meantime.
The family now live on their savings and 1.7 million baht given by the government, according to Preechachan Wiriyanupappong, Picherd's elder brother.
"My brother's passing changed everything," he said. "His wife has to think about how to be a breadwinner now."
Picherd's pa thong ko was known as one of the best available in the province. However, Ms Wanthanee was not involved in the whole production of the Thai doughnuts.
"The secret is in the dough recipe. My brother never taught his wife how to do that," said Mr Preechachan.
Ms Wanthanee's job was to deep fry the dough, but she left the dough-making to her husband.
Ruenkwan "Ploy" Kettaison, 41, one of the victims of the Hua Hin bombing, is also grappling with how to move on in life. She lost her friend Sakonnathach Deesukon in the blast. Although Ploy survived, she suffered broken fingers and severe leg wounds.
Ploy was a masseuse who used her strong hands to do her job. After the blast, she was unable to go back to work since her fingers needed time to heal.
She went home to Buri Ram to take time to recover.
But Ploy recently returned to Hua Hin to work for two weeks. She quickly realised she could no longer do massage services since her hands didn't have the same strength as before. However, the owner of the massage parlour allowed her to help with other tasks at the shop such as cleaning and laundry.
"I still haven't received any compensation from the government except for the first 10,000 baht I received when I was hospitalised," Ploy said. "I have submitted my request to receive 30,000 baht already but I won't get that for a while.
"Though I can't do the same work, I am lucky enough to be alive and still able to earn a living in the same place."
Meanwhile, in the bombing investigation, two out of 13 suspects have been arrested. Royal Thai Police deputy commissioner Pol Gen Sriwara Rangsipramanakul admitted that the investigation was taking more time than he thought it would. He urged officers to speed up the investigation.
rush to save lives: Rescue workers scramble to save one of the seven victims of the explosion at Centrepoint Market in Trang province. One person died. photo: Methee Muangkaew