By NNN-TNA,
Bangkok : A body identification team from Thailand returned from Christchurch on Wednesday with the ashes of Haruethaya Luangsurapeesakul, a nurse who was killed in New Zealand’s deadly quake last month.
Office of Forensic Science chief Charamphon Suramanee and his team arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport early Wednesday, carrying the ashes of Ms Haruethaya back home, giving them to Darunee Luangsurapeesakul, mother of the victim and relatives.
The family thanked the Royal Thai Police and the body identification team for their work and brought the ashes to the family home in Nonthaburi. They scheduled a merit-making ceremony on March 17 before scattering the young nurse’s ashes over the river as part of the Buddhist funeral rites on the next day.
Her family initially received Bt300,000 (US$10,000) from the New Zealand Red Cross and Bt150,000 (US$5,000) from the New Zealand government.
Mrs Darunee asked the Thai government to help seeking the Bt150,000 compensation from a Malaysian life insurance company with which her daughter was insured after it rejected to pay her, claiming her daughter failed to pay the insurance premium two weeks before the death. She said her daughter’s visa expired and had to wait for the process to extend the visa before being able to pay the premium.
Ms Haruethaya was the first among six Thai nursing student victims identified after they went missing at a language school during the powerful Christchurch earthquake.
New Zealand will hold a national memorial service on March 18 to mark the “terrible loss of life” in the Christchurch earthquake. The service will culminate in a period of two minutes silence at 12:51pm (2351 GMT Thursday), the exact time that the 6.3-magnitude tremor tore apart Christchurch on Feb 22.
The death toll stood at 166 on Monday, although officials expect the figure to eventually rise above 200.