BANGKOK — A Bangkok high school student died Sunday evening after being stabbed multiple times on a bus following a brawl with another student from a rival school, police said.
The victim, 18, was stabbed at least 10 times in the back with a paring knife on a No. 180 bus on an expressway in Khlong Toei district and died later at a hospital. The 17-year-old attacker was charged with manslaughter and carrying a weapon in public place, the chief of Tha Rua police station said.
Col. Sombat Kaenwijit said both teens started fighting after the attacker allegedly told the victim not to sit close to him.
He added that the perpetrator – who is a minor and was not identified – is a student of the Bangkok Technology School, while the victim was a 12th grader from Pathum Kongka School. There have been repeated incidents of violent brawls between students of the two schools.
“They just happened to meet and got into a heated argument,” he said. “They didn’t know each other, but students from these two institutions are known to be rivals. That’s the trigger point.”
Sompong Komthong, the bus driver, told police that the students got into the bus at the same time and that the fight erupted shortly after the bus took to the expressway. He said he decided to lock the door and drive into the police station, where officers arrested the assailant while he attempted to escape bus through a window.