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Grief swept through a Thai community this weekend as mourners gathered to pay their final respects to a young girl killed in the school shooting that claimed eight lives just two days earlier.
Dozens of bereaved students, parents and teachers formed long lines outside a Buddhist temple, waiting patiently for their turn to pray over the body of 12-year-old Naphat Chaima.
Inside the pavilion of Wat Lat Pla Duk in Nonthaburi province, bordering Bangkok, the slain schoolgirl's body lay before mourners as part of a traditional ceremonial bath ritual.
Dressed in black as a sign of mourning, visitors moved slowly through the temple, their faces marked by sorrow as they came to terms with the sudden loss of a child from their community.
One by one, mourners gently poured water over the hand of the deceased girl, performing a solemn gesture rooted in Buddhist funeral tradition.
Others lit incense sticks and folded their hands together in quiet prayer, filling the temple pavilion with the scent of smoke and the weight of collective grief.
Recognizing the emotional toll on the youngest attendees, several psychologists were made available at the temple to offer support and consultation to grieving children accompanied by their parents.
Parents in attendance voiced concerns about school security, questioning how a teenage classmate had managed to bring a firearm and ammunition onto campus in the first place.
Despite their grief and questions, some mourners acknowledged that the tragedy ultimately felt beyond anyone's ability to have fully prevented or controlled.
As the community continues to process the tragedy, the temple ceremony offered a space for collective mourning, reflection and support in the aftermath of one of the deadliest school shootings in the region's recent history.
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