The families of Thai farm workers held hostage in Gaza for more than a year wept with joy and hugged their loved ones as they arrived in Bangkok yesterday.
The five Thais smiled as they walked into the arrivals hall at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport after being freed on Jan. 30, as part of a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the Gaza war.
Watchara Sriaoun, Pongsak Tanna, Sathian Suwannakham, Surasak Lamnau and Bannawat Saethao landed in Bangkok at 7:30am and were met by a small group of overjoyed relatives and officials from the Thai Ministry Of Foreign Affairs.
Photo: Reuters
Pongsak told reporters that he was at a “loss for words” as he saw his family.
“I thank everyone who helped us make it out. We wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for them. We can finally return to our motherland,” he said.
Somboon Saethao, the father of Bannawat, said he was “so happy” and that his family would welcome his son home with a traditional Thai ceremony.
“I don’t think I want him to be far from home again,” Somboon, who comes from Thailand’s northern Nan province said.
Bannawat moved to Israel nine months before his kidnap in search of a better income for the family, he added.
Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Maris Sangiampongsa said it was “very inspiring” to witness their return, and that officials would monitor their reintegration into Thai society, “focusing on their mental health.”
“We never gave up on these hostages,” he told a news conference at the airport.
The five returnees were making their way to their hometowns.
Boonsong Tapchaiyut, a Thai Ministry of Labor official, said that each hostage would receive a one-time payment of about US$18,000, along with a monthly salary of US$900 until the age of 80, to ensure they do not have to return to Israel.
When Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, 31 Thais were abducted, with 23 released by the end of that year and two confirmed dead in May.
One Thai national is still believed to be alive in Gaza.
The handover of the five hostages last month in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza was marked by chaotic scenes as Islamic Jihad and Hamas fighters struggled to hold back hundreds of spectators.
After the release Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said she was “elated” that they were out of captivity and thanked Israel, as well as Qatar, Egypt, Iran, Turkey and the US for their work to secure the releases.
Forty-six Thai workers have been killed since October 2023, the Thai foreign ministry said, the majority in the Hamas attack and some by rockets fired by Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The Thai Ministry of Labor last week said that the country would expand its workforce in Israel by 13,000.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said yesterday. When Philippine forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) on Saturday due to bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help, but later saw that the ship had been extricated, Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among
RSS