BANGKOK — A teenager has died from a heart attack due to injuries sustained from hazing activities, an activist said Monday.
Pantadon Boonklong, 16, a Matthayom 4 construction technology student at Minburi Technical College, died early Saturday after being hazed by his upperclassmen. It’s the second death attributed to hazing culture in a single month.
“Throughout the entire week before he died, he asked his friends for Paracetamol every day but never told anyone about his pain,” Panuwat Songsawatchai from the anti-hazing group Anti Sotus said by phone Monday. “His dad is not ready to give more information about his son yet.”
Two suspects are currently under police investigation and have been charged with fatal assault, Police Col. Krissana Phattanacharoen said Monday.
Krissana sad that around 10 upperclassmen (roon p) came to Pantadon’s house in Khan Na Yao district late Friday night and told him, “Why aren’t you coming to classes? You won’t graduate if this keeps up, we’re warning you.”
Anti-Sotus activists say Pantadon had been skipping classes due to illness.
According to Krissana, the roon p then made Pantadon roll around on the ground in the nearby soi, before letting him shower. Krissana says they then intimidated him in a dark room before Pantadon agreed to another punishment, which was receiving kicks from two roon p. Pantadon collapsed, and the roon p sent him to Nopparat Hospital, where he died early Saturday soon after midnight.
Pantadon, who was a Muslim, was buried within 24 hours of his death according to Islamic funerary rites. The autopsy has already been completed but details have not been released by police, Panuwat said.
“However, we know there were a lot of bruises,” Panuwat said.
The hazing creed of SOTUS – Seniority, Order, Tradition, Unity, Spirit – have spread to high schools and often involve mentally and physically abusive practices that have resulted in fatalities. Pisit Kumniw, a Matthayom 3 student at Phra Pahtom Wittayalai School, died on Thursday after being kicked into a coma by his upperclassmen.
In July 2018, three upperclassmen were charged with grievous bodily harm for kicking a university freshman until his spleen burst. In 2014, Pokai Saengrojrat, a 16-year-old student, died from hazing activities that involved being kicked at the beach.
This is a developing story and may be updated without notice.
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