Gas Station Owner Pleads for Aid, One Year After Rocket Strike

At 1 p.m. on July 24, 2025, at Parliament, MP Vasavat Phuangponsai of the Thai United Party received a letter from Kamonrat, owner of the PTT gas station at Ban Phuea (Ban Nam Yen) in Kantharalak District, Sisaket Province. The station was damaged when a BM-21 rocket struck during a Thailand-Cambodia border clash on July 24, 2024, but she has received no compensation to date.

Vasavat said he has been tracking the case through parliamentary channels and during review of the 2570 fiscal-year budget bill, which should include allocations from the Interior, Defense, and Justice ministries to compensate all affected parties. He also mentioned the case of a person killed by the rocket, who has received no proper compensation after one year. He said he had coordinated with MP Phatrapong Leelapat of Chiang Mai, chair of the House committee on natural disaster and public health emergency prevention and mitigation.

Kamonrat stated that one year has passed since the incident with no progress on the gas station's compensation. She said the matter reached the Prime Minister's Office but no official response has returned to her. Tenants who closed for three months also received no damages. Separately, a customer injured by shrapnel at the 7-11 convenience store inside the station, though later assisted, became disabled, while a 7-11 employee similarly hit by shrapnel has received nothing.

With a trembling voice and tears, Kamonrat appealed: "A year has passed. I beg the government to have compassion. We are using our own money, our children's tuition fees as overdraft payments. We have a business and suffer too. Our children must attend school; we cannot move them to another one. But we must use their tuition to avoid paying interest. It is not that we have money; we suffer equally. The shopkeepers also suffer—they run businesses to support their families. Please help us in this regard."

When asked what compensation she had received in the past year, Kamonrat said she received money from the private sector, and during the initial aftermath, former Interior Ministry official Theerathorn Samretwanit promised that the state would cover the gap between private aid and full compensation. She has submitted documents to claim this, but has received nothing from the government so far. The provincial governor visited only in the early stages and asked her to coordinate with the provincial disaster prevention and mitigation office.