UDON THANI – A 4-year-old girl narrowly escaped death after her mother tried to kill herself and her daughter by setting smoke in their home in Na Yard sub-district, Udon Thani province, Thailand on Tuesday.
The girl was taken to hospital with her mother on January 9, 2024. The police found a charcoal stove in the bedroom, which had just been lit, near the end of the bed. Next to it, they found a notebook with a four-page suicide note written by the girl’s 38-year-old mother. The note mentioned the mother’s debt problems, which she believed had been caused by a scam. She apologized her husband, her family and to her creditors.
“I would not dare let my children live without a mother. I did not want my children to be a burden to anyone,” the mother of two stated.
The police believe that the mother changed her mind when she saw her daughter struggling and falling unconscious from the smoke. She picked up the child and rushed to give her first aid. Neighbors and relatives who heard the commotion rushed to help and the girl eventually woke up and was able to communicate. The mother hugged and comforted her daughter and said, “I will grill fish for you.” This scene touched the hearts of the neighbors and relatives.
Her mother-in-law, who is 70 years old and lives next door to her house, said that she heard people shouting and went to see what was going on. She saw her daughter-in-law trying to revive her granddaughter. Soon after, the granddaughter opened her eyes and woke up.
The mother-in-law said she had never seen her son and daughter-in-law fighting before. She was shocked that her daughter-in-law would think of doing such a thing, but she was grateful that she had changed her mind and saved her granddaughter. She said that she would be more vigilant in the future to prevent something like this from happening again.
Later, the girl’s father, a 41-year-old man, came home and read the suicide note. He began to cry. Then he went inside to prepare to go to the hospital to see his daughter and his wife.
Pol. Sen. Sgt. Maj. Suksan Sidawat, crime prevention officer at Udon Thani City Police Station, said he hopes this case will serve as an example that every family has problems, but they need to talk to each other, understand each other and support each other. If they do this, everything will be fine.
In Thailand, there have been several similar cases in recent years in which parents or both parents have killed themselves due to debt problems, resulting in the death of their children. For example, in December 2023, a papaya salad vendor in Lamphun province killed himself, his wife and daughter by burning charcoal in a closed space after being harassed by a loan shark.
In another case, in August 2023, a father in Samut Prakan province killed his wife and child with a knife after struggling with debt because he had guaranteed a loan for his wife, who had then been defrauded by online criminals.
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