PHOTO: sanook.com

A 27 year old woman has died after a stray bullet hit the minivan in which she was travelling and penetrated the right-hand side of her body. The incident appears to be an accident. Thai Residents reports that the shooting took place around 1.30am yesterday morning. It’s understood the woman was travelling from Buriram in Thailand’s north east, to Bangkok in the van with her husband.

Locals have told police that teenagers were playing with liv guns as the minivan passed through the area. Although the van driver raced his wounded passenger to hospital, she died of her injuries.

The police are now attempting to track down and identify the teenager who fired the shot that killed the woman.

SOURCE: Thai Residents | sanook.com

PHOTO: MCOT

“A coffin maker, who supplies Jamnong, says the store is left open at night, often with no staff in attendance.”

The kind-hearted owner of a coffin shop in Buriram, north-east Thailand, has admitted he regularly has to deal with coffins being stolen from his premises, but can’t bring himself to file police reports against the perpetrators, as he feels they must be dealing with financial hardship while grieving.

Thai Residents reports that the 50 year old store owner, named as Jamnong, says the theft of his coffins is a regular occurrence, but that it’s usually only the cheaper options, priced at 600 – 800 baht, that are taken. Up until now, he’s turned a blind eye to it out of sympathy.

However, the latest theft involved a significantly more expensive coffin, which was priced at 4,500 baht and Jamnong wonders if this one was stolen for its resale value as opposed to being needed by a grieving family.

Despite this, he still wasn’t able to bring himself to file a police report, saying if the coffin is truly needed, he’s happy to give it away. He also points out that he doesn’t mind if people come to him directly and ask for a free coffin or a discount, if they’re unable to pay the full price.

Jamnong says he would like the coffin thieves to think about the repercussions of their actions, as each theft costs him money. He has been unable to make any profit as a result of the thefts and says he now has no choice but to install CCTV at his shop.

He says he’s prepared to report the next theft to police and to press charges, particularly if he suspects a coffin is being stolen to be resold, as opposed to being genuinely needed by someone who can’t afford to pay for it.

A coffin maker, who supplies Jamnong, says the store is left open at night, often with no staff in attendance. The general understanding is that customers taking a coffin will call the phone number displayed at the front of the store to arrange payment at a later stage, but lately this agreement is being ignored as people abuse the store owner’s trust.

SOURCE: Thai Residents

PHOTO: Sanook

A husband and wife were driving back to Yasothon Province in the north-east from Bangkok when they checked Sunday’s draw of the twice-monthly Thai Government lottery. They’d won the first prize! 6 million baht.

The couple work as vendors at the Sampeng Market in ChinaTown, Bangkok. The winning numbers were 453522.

23 years old Methinee and her 34 year old husband Praiwan turns up to show the media today their winning tickets and two broad smiles. The say they’ve been working together everyday selling at the Sampeng market in ChinaTown. The market is famous, or infamous, for selling cheap bulk items from China. They were on the way to visit Methinee’s family in Yasothon when they checked and realised they’d won the big prize. Methinee explained she has 6 brothers and sisters who still live and work in their hometown.

She says met her husband and fell in love before moving in together and had 1 child. They have just finished building a house and the car that they’d leased still had a few months of payment left. But they thought they had created a good start for their small family. Now all that has changed.

They say they selected their lucky numbers from their car number plates or “whatever feels right”. The one winning ticket delivered them a total of 6 million baht.

Praiwan told the media he wants his wife to keep and control the money received from the prize. They say they will pay off all the debts and then bank the rest for their child.

SOURCE: Thai Residents