Headless baby draws crowds

NAKHON SRI THAMMARAT: A family in Ron Phibun District have set up a shrine to house the body of a stillborn headless baby.

The baby was the second of a pair of twin girls born to 30-year-old Saijai Sriraksa on October 14.

After the first healthy twin was born, doctors noticed Mrs Saijai still had a lump in her abdomen. Doctors asked her to push again, and a stillborn baby was born.

The baby, which weighs 1.2kg, has no arms and no head. On each foot it has three toes.

Relatives took the body of the baby home and set it up in an old fishtank converted into a display case. They placed the baby in a sitting position and put a baby’s bottle and a nappy in the fishtank. They also lit incense and set up a donation box for visitors.

As the news spread, many villagers from Ron Phibun District came to worship the headless infant, asking it for good fortune.

The baby’s great aunt, Panya Sangsiri, 47, said Mrs Saijai had regular check ups throughout her pregnancy.

She had been scanned with ultrasound five times but the presence of the twin had never been detected, Mrs Panya said.

If the body of the baby did not go rotten, they would keep it in the fishtank permanently for people to come and worship, she said.