Nine-Year-Old Boy Dies in Udon Thani Farm Hut Fire

Picture courtesy of Matichon.

A nine-year-old boy lost his life after a fire engulfed his family’s farm hut in the early hours of the morning in Muang district, Udon Thani province.

At approximately 00:05 on 4 August, police from Huai Luang Substation, along with firefighters and rescue workers, responded to reports of a blaze at a raised wooden hut located south of Ban Nikhom Phatthana in Nikhom Songkhro Subdistrict.

Despite efforts to extinguish the fire, the hut was completely destroyed. The charred body of a young boy, later identified as Parames “Met”, was found in the debris. He was a student at a local school. A solar panel structure and a motorbike were also damaged and six pigs kept by the family were reported missing.

At 10:00, senior police officers and forensic investigators visited the scene. They met with the boy’s mother, Ms. Ratri 40 and his stepfather, Mr. Sanong 50, who had raised the child since infancy and treated him as his own.

Ms. Ratri, a widow with two children, explained that her elder son suffers from a drug-induced psychiatric condition and is currently undergoing treatment. The family had been living together in the farm hut, making a living through rice farming, cassava cultivation, charcoal production and pig farming.

On the night of the fire, Parames had asked for fried grasshoppers. His parents left around 21:00 to tend to a nearby charcoal kiln, then went hunting for grasshoppers as promised. Before leaving, they plugged in a mobile phone for their son to use while he rested.

At around midnight, they saw flames coming from the direction of their home and rushed back. The fire had already consumed the hut. They called out for their son, but received no response. Authorities were alerted, and the boy’s remains were found later in the burnt debris.

“I believe my son fell asleep while playing on the phone, which was charging. He may have rolled onto the charger cable, causing a short circuit. The hut had many combustible items like clothes and bedding. My son was also a deep sleeper and likely didn’t wake in time to escape,” said a tearful Ms. Ratri. “If he can hear me, I want him to know I’m sorry I couldn’t save him. Please be my son again in the next life.”

The boy’s grandfather, Mr. Ket, 58, said his son-in-law had woken him, to tell him the hut was on fire and his grandson might have been trapped inside. “I last spoke with him yesterday and bought him meatballs and a fizzy drink, I didn’t know it would be our last conversation,” he said.

Pol Col Phattanawong Chanphon, superintendent of Mueang Udon Thani Police, confirmed initial investigations support the theory of an electrical fault as the cause of the fire. The hut was powered by solar energy stored in batteries, which the parents had been using to charge the mobile phone.

Parames’s body was taken to Udon Thani Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

  Adapted by Asean Now from Matichon 2025-08-05