Couple Who Helped Uk Phuket Tsunami Victims Found

[Boo Radley]

PHUKET: The power of modern technology saw a happy ending in less than 24 hours today when a Thai couple who helped a British family 10 years ago after the Asian Tsunami were identified.

The Phuket News - Tuesday 15 July 2014, 05:57PM

Ben and Emily Willgrass, were in Phuket on holiday with their parents when the tsunami struck on December 26, 2004.

Their mother, Louise, was killed by the wave but they and their father were helped by a Phuket couple who took them in and then, because Phuket Airport was shut, drove them to Bangkok.

Ben and Emily are planning to return to Phuket on July 20, and wanted to meet the couple to thank them properly. But all they knew were the names "Upin" and "Pitchat". See earlier story here.

This afternoon, just 15 hours after Ben first posted on Facebook, asked for help, the Thai couple have been identified as Pichet and Yupin Sengmuang.

One of Pichet’s relatives spotted one of the many reports on the internet and called Khao Sod newspaper, which promptly ran a story online.

Ms Yupin, the newspaper said, is from Nakhon Sawan while Mr Pichet is from Phattalung. Some 10 years before the tsunami they moved to Phuket to open a food and grocery store at Trai Trang Beach.

Ms Yupin told the newspaper that after the tsunami, they met the Willgrasses, who were searching for the mother, Louise.

They fed them and bedded Ben and Emily down and looked after them while the children’s father continued to search for Louise. He later discovered that she had died in the Ocean Shopping Mall in Patong.

The couple said they took care of the children, trying to encourage them and explaining about the situation.

Since Phuket Airport had a problem, the family were unable to fly out, so Mrs Yupin and her husband drove them from Phuket to Bangkok.

Mrs Yupin said that she was glad to know that the children – now grown up – would be coming to see her on July 20. She added that she and her husband helped them because they felt very sorry for them and she wanted to do her best to help them.

She said that she would never forget the day.

The couple are now, sadly, divorced. Mr Pichet moved back to Phattalung, but Ms Yupin is still in Phuket.

This afternoon Ms Yupin could not immediately be reached by The Phuket News, but Mr Pichet told us, "I missed them and I am so glad they are coming back to see me. I really appreciate it. Ten years ago they were just children. I have no idea what they will be like now. But please tell them that Thailand welcomes them back.

"I will probably travel up to Phuket to meet them – they probably won't know how to find their way to Phattalung."

The Phuket News contacted Ben Willgrass with the news, and with phone numbers for the former couple.

Ben replied, “It has been a mad 24 hours for us, but thank you for your message.

“We never expected quite the response we have received, but it just shows once again how amazing the Thai people are. I will be in contact in the near future to talk more.

Told what Pichet had said, "I'm really happy to hear that, if you speak to him again tell him we are both very excited to see him."

http://www.thephuket...found-47359.php

http://www.dailynews...อังà¸à¸¤à¸©à¸£à¸­à¸”สึนามิ

[cavanami]

Good to see some happy news!!!

[Boo Radley]

Found a bit more on it:

 

Tsunami survivors in tearful Phuket reunion Suthicha Sirirat Monday 4 August 2014, 01:15PM

PHUKET: On Thursday (July 31) Tsunami survivors Ben and Emily Willgrass finally got to meet the woman they have wanted to thank for almost 10 years.

 

The brother and sister, who were children when Yupin Sengmuang and her then-husband Pichet sheltered them after the December 26, 2004, disaster, and later drove them and their father to Bangkok to catch a plane out, felt they had never said thank-you properly.

Yesterday (August 3), Mrs Yupin said the duo had visited her several times in the preceding few days, with laughter, tears and hugs amid the reminiscences of those dark hours when the their father searched for their mother Louise who, sadly, was found dead in Patong, a victim of the wave.

In between the hugs, Mrs Yupin said, she fed them, too, with pad Thai and tom yam kung.

She said that they had met quietly, with no fanfare, because they wanted to avoid the glare of the media, which were fascinated by the emotion in the story ever since Ben and Emily asked on Facebook for help in finding Yupin and Pichet.

Within 15 hours, thanks to social media and with help from the Thai media, they had been put in touch.

http://www.thephuket...union-47678.php