Family of slain Thai hostage Sudthisak Rinthalak prepares to welcome remains home

NONG KHAI — Two years after Hamas militants killed Thai worker Sudthisak Rinthalak, his family in northeastern Thailand is preparing to welcome his remains home and hold a Buddhist ceremony they believe will bring his spirit peace.

Sudthisak’s elder brother Thepporn has spent the past two years fulfilling promises he made to his younger sibling, using compensation money to build a new house, buy pickup trucks for their elderly parents and expand their rubber farm.

But the 50-year-old farmer says none of it matters without Sudthisak there to see it.

“Everything is done, but the person I did these things for is not here,” Thepporn says, walking through the rubber plantation in Nong Khai province near the Laos border.

Israel identified Sudthisak’s remains on Thursday after Hamas handed over his body as part of a ceasefire deal. The 44-year-old agricultural worker was captured by Hamas at an avocado farm during its October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and was later killed at Kibbutz Be’eri.

The last image his family has of Sudthisak came from a video sent by friends that showed him lying face down with militants pointing guns at him.

“I feel sad because I couldn’t do anything to help him,” Thepporn says. “There was nothing I could do when I saw him with my own eyes. He was hiding behind a wooden frame and they were pointing the gun at him.”

“Whenever there was a hostage release, he was never included,” Thepporn says.

His sister-in-law Boonma Butrasri wipes away tears as she speaks about the family’s loss.

“I don’t want war to happen. I don’t want this at all,” she says.

Thepporn says his brother’s death serves as a warning to other Thai workers considering jobs abroad.

“I just want to tell the world that you’ve got to think very carefully when sending your family abroad,” he says.

“See which countries are at war or not, and think carefully.”