A 34 year old Thai woman from Kamphaeng Phet has died unexpectedly while working in South Korea, leaving her low-income family struggling to raise the money needed to return her body to Thailand.
A family in Kamphaeng Phet is appealing for help after their 34-year-old daughter died suddenly in South Korea, where she had been working for the past seven years.
The woman, identified as Piyawan Samreedi, also known as Pla, was originally from Trai Trueng subdistrict in Mueang Kamphaeng Phet district. Her family learned of her death after several Facebook pages in South Korea posted an appeal seeking her relatives and urged them to contact the Royal Thai Embassy in Seoul.
One of the posts came from the Facebook page “Ko Isan Phuyaiban Korea v.2”, which shared Piyawan’s photograph and details in an attempt to locate her family. A local community leader in Kamphaeng Phet recognised her and alerted her relatives.
Reporters later visited Piyawan’s family home, where they met her mother, 69-year-old Lamyai Samreedi, who said the news had left the family devastated.
Lamyai said her daughter moved to South Korea about seven years ago to work as a traditional Thai massage therapist. Piyawan stayed in regular contact with her family and occasionally sent money home to help with household expenses.
Their last conversation was on August 8, when Piyawan told her mother that she was experiencing unusually heavy menstrual bleeding. Lamyai said she advised her daughter to buy painkillers at the time.
According to her mother, Piyawan had no known underlying health conditions. The family is now waiting for South Korean authorities to determine the official cause of death.
Piyawan’s family is seeking financial assistance to repatriate her body to Thailand.
Lamyai said the family spoke with her daughter’s colleagues in South Korea and was told that repatriating the body to Thailand could cost around 200,000 baht. Bringing her ashes home after cremation in South Korea would still cost an estimated 100,000 baht.
For the family, either amount is difficult to afford. Lamyai said the household relies mainly on casual work and does not have enough savings to cover the cost.
She hopes to bring her daughter’s body back to Kamphaeng Phet so the family can hold a funeral in her hometown.
Local authorities have also stepped in to help. Winai Dechsri, chief executive of the Trai Trueng Subdistrict Administrative Organisation, visited the family and said officials were coordinating with relevant agencies to see what assistance could be provided.
The family said the cost of repatriating Piyawan’s body is beyond what they can afford. They have since opened a donation account to raise funds for her return to Thailand.
The family said it would stop accepting donations once enough money had been raised to cover the repatriation costs.
South Korean authorities have yet to announce Piyawan’s official cause of death.
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