Body of Thai Sailor Returns Home After Hormuz Strait Attack
The body of 26-year-old Thai sailor Phaanuphong Muenthean, who died in a Hormuz Strait attack on a cargo ship, has returned to his hometown in Surin province for funeral rites and a merit-making ceremony.
The body of Phaanuphong Muenthean, known as "Aum," a 26-year-old crew member who died when the cargo ship Muyurinary was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, arrived at his hometown in Ban Sai district, Sikhiu subdistrict, Surin province. Family members, relatives, community leaders, and villagers gathered to receive his body amid an atmosphere of grief and mourning. When rescue personnel brought his coffin to the front of his home, family and relatives wept with sorrow before his father lit incense and made an offering at the entrance. The coffin was then brought inside for a Buddhist ceremony requesting forgiveness and water blessing in place of the traditional bathing ritual.
Anuwat Phimphra, the village headman and a relative of Aum, revealed with a trembling voice that although devastated by what happened, the family was grateful he could return home. The family will hold a merit-making ceremony and his funeral on Sunday. Anuwat disclosed that Aum had aspired to join the Royal Thai Navy to serve his country, but that dream was cut short by this tragedy. He noted with great sorrow that Aum's body arrived home on the same day as fellow victim Sorachai Solo, as both died abroad in tragic circumstances. Their return home was a heartbreaking one, with no possibility of bringing them back to life.
