Some of blast victim’s ashes to be scattered in Thai waters

HAADYAI: Some of blast victim Tan Peng Chan’s ashes will be scattered at sea, off the Songkhla province here today.

His brother Peng Chiat, 31, said this was in fulfilment of his elder brother’s wish.

“The rite is a symbolic gesture which we hope would let him rest in peace,” he said at the Wat Kor Hong cemetery here yesterday.

Peng Chiat said his brother’s body was cremated yesterday, adding that the rest of the ashes would be brought back to be interred at a columbarium in Alor Setar.

At the cemetery, a simple funeral rite was also held for the victim with assistance from members of Wat Chanhorn Buddhist Society Bhikkhu Uttara Kedah.

Peng Chan, 39, from Kuala Kedah, and Low Thian Hock, 46, from Bukit Mertajam, were the two Malaysians killed in the car bomb blast at Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel on Saturday.

Two Thai women, one of them Thian Hock’s Thai wife, were also killed while 416 people were injured.

A check at the scene found that several cars which were stranded at the four-level basement car park of the hotel had either been driven or towed out. A police spokesman said 154 cars could still be driven while 37 others could not.

Malaysia Consul-general in Songkhla Mohd Aini Atan said a special counter would be set up outside the hotel today to enable Malaysians to retrieve their vehicles starting from 9am local time (10 am Malaysian time).