Mother of Thai Woman’s Suspicious Death in Bahrain Cries Receiving Her Body

Bahrain
Ms. Aim, the mother of a 31-year-old woman who suspiciously died in Bahrain, weeps as she receives her daughter's body at Suvarnabhumi Airport on May 16, 2024.

SUVARNABHUMI – Ms. Aim, the mother of Ms. B, a 31-year-old woman who died suspiciously in Bahrain, wept as she received her daughter’s body at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Samut Prakan Province on May 16.

She was assisted by Mrs. Paveena Hongsakula, Chairperson of the Paveena Hongsakul Foundation for Children and Women, and airport officials who facilitated the release of the body.

“I thank Mrs. Paveena for helping coordinate the return of my daughter’s body to Thailand and the generosity of Thai people who donated money. I paid 80,000 baht to the Thai embassy in Bahrain for the repatriation, and the remaining money will be used for the funeral,” Ms. Aim said in tears.

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Ms. Aim, the mother of a 31-year-old woman who suspiciously died in Bahrain, weeps as she talks about her daughter’s death at Suvarnabhumi Airport on May 16, 2024.

She shared that her family is poor, and Ms. B was a single mother supporting the family. She decided to work in Bahrain in 2021, sending money to her to raise her three young children. She lost contact with her daughter since April 15, 2023 until the Thai embassy contacted Ms. Aim on April 18, 2024, informing her that her daughter’s body was found at Salmaniya Hospital in Bahrain. She was reported to have died on April 18, 2023.

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Bahraini doctors stated the cause of death as acute lung and heart failure due to alcohol poisoning, but Ms. Aim did not believe. She noticed bruises on the body in the photographs, possibly from domestic violence. Additionally, when her daughter was alive, she would video call regularly, sometimes showing bruises and mentioning being abused by her Bahraini husband she had been living with since early 2023.

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Mrs. Paveena Hongsakul held a press conference alongside the mother and sister of Ms. B, who died suspiciously in Bahrain. Images were shown revealing that Ms. B had bruises on her body before her death.

After learning about her daughter’s death, Ms. Aim sought help from the Paveena Foundation on April 20. Thais in Bahrain, upon hearing the news, raised 92,087.56 baht to help cover the cost of sending Ms. B’s body back to Thailand, coordinated by Mrs. Paveena, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Thai embassy in Bahrain.

Upon receiving the body at the airport, Mrs. Paveena arranged for it to be sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the Police General Hospital for an autopsy to determine the cause of death, as requested by the mother and relatives. After the autopsy, the family will hold a funeral at Wat Maklua in the Chom Thong-Dao Khanong area of Bangkok.

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Ms. Aim thanks Mrs. Paveena for helping coordinate the return of her daughter’s body to Thailand.

Mrs. Paveena warned Thai women considering working abroad to carefully verify details, as they risk being tricked into prostitution, human trafficking, forced drug use, and even being beaten to death.

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According to the Paveena Foundation’s statistics from 2004-2022, Bahrain ranked first in the number of Thai women lured into prostitution abroad. In 2023, 219 Thai women were deceived into prostitution, with 56 cases in Dubai (1st), 54 in Myanmar (2nd), and 25 in Bahrain (3rd). Authorities may not be able to help in all cases.

This year, from January to April, three Thai women died in Malaysia, and two in Bahrain, with many cases having unknown causes, which are difficult to investigate due to the deaths occurring abroad.

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