Out of options, school fire families pursue lawsuits on their own

[snoop1130]

Out of options, school fire families pursue lawsuits on their own

By Teeranai Charuvastra, Staff Reporter

 

A distraught mother searches the burned-out dorm of Pitakkiat Witthaya school on May 24 for belongings of her daughter who died in the fire.

 

CHIANG RAI — Having exhausted all other legal channels, parents who lost their young daughters when their school dorm burned down last year in Chiang Rai will seek justice on their own.

 

Public prosecutors declined to take up their case Monday, and with police previously ruling out criminal charges for the fire that killed 19 children at the Pitakkiat Wittaya School, the families said they have no choice but to file criminal complaints in the hope someone will be held liable.

 

Full Story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/crimecourtscalamity/2017/02/22/options-school-fire-families-pursue-lawsuits/

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2017-2-22

[Thaiwrath]

16 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Public prosecutors declined to take up their case Monday, and with police previously ruling out criminal charges for the fire that killed 19 children at the Pitakkiat Wittaya School,

Scandalous, but as we all know, money talks.

[NCC1701A]

Thai police are such filth.

[PaddyDaddy]

Beyond belief.........if memory serves me correctly, these girls were from hill tribes. Time for the elders to sharpen up the machetes and take a trip down from the hills. 

[Rotweiler]

Say what?

 

I noticed several inflammatory posts above basically suggesting non-legal actions against the school.  Those kinds of statements can only be from persons who know nothing about the school or the fire.

 

The school is a non-profit venture funded by individuals promoting educational opportunities for hill-tribe children who would otherwise have no possibility of getting an education.  Surviving on donations.  The school is massively under-funded, barely scrapping by with the funds they do collect.  The school could not afford to install fire or smoke detectors.  Yes, the fire happened, and children died. 

 

But instead of promoting vigilantism, why not make a donation to the school so they can afford to provide a higher standard of car for the children. 

 

You can be like the parents of the children at the school who in the weeks following the fire, came and cleaned up the site.

 

Or be like the motor-cycle gang that descended on the site several days after the fire, bemoaning what happened, leaving empty beer cans all over but not leaving one satang donation for the care of the children.

 

 

[elgordo38]

17 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

Thai police are such filth.

Money talks and well you know the rest. 

[wcoast]

Say what?
 
I noticed several inflammatory posts above basically suggesting non-legal actions against the school.  Those kinds of statements can only be from persons who know nothing about the school or the fire.
 
The school is a non-profit venture funded by individuals promoting educational opportunities for hill-tribe children who would otherwise have no possibility of getting an education.  Surviving on donations.  The school is massively under-funded, barely scrapping by with the funds they do collect.  The school could not afford to install fire or smoke detectors.  Yes, the fire happened, and children died. 
 
But instead of promoting vigilantism, why not make a donation to the school so they can afford to provide a higher standard of car for the children. 
 
You can be like the parents of the children at the school who in the weeks following the fire, came and cleaned up the site.
 
Or be like the motor-cycle gang that descended on the site several days after the fire, bemoaning what happened, leaving empty beer cans all over but not leaving one satang donation for the care of the children.
 
 

While I totally agree with your sentiments, it's not like a smoke detector is a huge expense. As well I understood that the dorm room was locked and there was no adult supervision throughout the night. I take great exception to the possibility that the girls were locked in with no avenue of escape. Any way you cut it this was a horrific tragedy. I really wonder what has transpired of all the authorities talk about ensuring smoke detectors in similar schools since then?

[Yme]

 

On 23/02/2017 at 8:53 PM, wcoast said:

While I totally agree with your sentiments, it's not like a smoke detector is a huge expense. As well I understood that the dorm room was locked and there was no adult supervision throughout the night. I take great exception to the possibility that the girls were locked in with no avenue of escape. Any way you cut it this was a horrific tragedy. I really wonder what has transpired of all the authorities talk about ensuring smoke detectors in similar schools since then?

I agree with wcoast. Smoke detectors aren't a huge cost, and not the only issue here. But there's not much point suing if there's no money at the end of process. As Rotweiler points out. Not much else available for the Hill Tribe kids.