BANGKOK, Feb 12 (Bernama) -- A school director in southern Thailand died at hospital early Thursday after being shot in a gun attack at her school a day earlier, authorities said.
The victim, identified as 54-year-old Sasiphat Sinsamosorn, director of Phatong Prathan Kiriwat School, was shot after an armed teenager entered the school shortly before dismissal on Wednesday afternoon.
Police said two students were injured in the incident.
In a statement, Public Health Ministry said Sasiphat was rushed to hospital and underwent emergency surgery before being admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).
“Medical teams made every effort to save her, but she died at 2am (local time) from extensive internal injuries and severe blood loss at Hat Yai Hospital,” the ministry said.
On Wednesday at about 4.45pm local time, an 18-year-old man stormed into Phatong Prathan Kiriwat School and opened fire before taking a student hostage.
Police deployed additional forces to bring the situation under control. The suspect eventually surrendered and released all hostages after more than an hour of negotiations.
Meanwhile, Provincial Police Region 9 Commissioner Police Lieutenant General Piyawat Chalermsi said the Royal Thai Police have set up a special committee to investigate how the suspect was able to seize a firearm from a police officer before carrying out the shooting and hostage-taking at the school.
He said preliminary findings showed that the suspect allegedly became agitated, snatched a firearm from an officer and entered the school building, where he opened fire and took teachers and students hostage.
“The committee will determine whether there was any negligence in the performance of duty or whether the incident was unavoidable, given the pressure of the situation at the scene,” Piyawat told reporters at the Provincial Police Region 9 headquarters.
He added that the committee has been instructed to complete its findings within three days.
Piyawat said questioning has been postponed until the suspect’s condition stabilises.
-- BERNAMA
BERNAMA provides up-to-date authentic and comprehensive news and information which are disseminated via BERNAMA Wires; www.bernama.com; BERNAMA TV on Astro 502, unifi TV 631 and MYTV 121 channels and BERNAMA Radio on FM93.9 (Klang Valley), FM107.5 (Johor Bahru), FM107.9 (Kota Kinabalu) and FM100.9 (Kuching) frequencies.
Follow us on social media :
Facebook : @bernamaofficial, @bernamatv, @bernamaradio
Twitter : @bernama.com, @BernamaTV, @bernamaradio
Instagram : @bernamaofficial, @bernamatvofficial, @bernamaradioofficial
TikTok : @bernamaofficial
