A three-year-old girl became the sole survivor of a nursery massacre in Thailand – a tragedy that left 36 dead and a nation asking how little Ammy made it out alive.
No one expected three-year-old Paweenuch Supholwong to survive and be able to tell her story. As a gunman stormed her nursery in the quiet Thai township of Uthai Sawan, she was fast asleep under a blanket, surrounded by her classmates.
When rescuers arrived, she was the only child found alive and well – in a massacre that claimed the lives of 36 people, including 24 children.
As the attack unfolded, Paweenuch – known to family and neighbours as “Ammy” – was fast asleep under a blanket, surrounded by her friends and classmates. When the gunman entered the room, he killed the children around her but left her untouched. Her mother, Panomplai Srithong, believes he mistook her daughter for one of the already lifeless bodies.
When the assault ended, rescuers discovered the toddler still sleeping. They carried her away from the scene with her eyes covered, sparing her from the sight of what had happened inside. Another child survived with serious injuries and was taken to hospital.
The tragedy, which took place in October 2022, devastated the small farming community of Uthai Sawan in Thailand’s Nong Bua Lamphu province. The attacker, identified by police as 34-year-old former officer Panya Kamrap, had been dismissed from the force earlier that year over drug-related charges.
After the massacre, he went on to kill his wife and young son before turning the gun on himself. Authorities have never confirmed a clear motive.
For many in the region, the shock has not faded. Residents say such violence was unimaginable in their peaceful township, where everyone knows one another and families often help raise each other’s children.
Paweenuch’s parents, who work in a Bangkok electronics factory, were hundreds of miles away when they heard the first reports that their daughter’s nursery had been attacked. Early messages said that no one had survived.
“Breathing was difficult,” her mother said. “But when I found out my child survived, I was relieved – and I wanted to know if she had any injuries, if there was any damage.”
When they finally reached Uthai Sawan after a long overnight drive, they found their daughter safe in her grandmother’s arms.
Though she had escaped physical harm, she asked one question that broke their hearts – she wanted to know where her best friend was.
The two had been napping side by side that morning. Her grandmother gently told her that her friend had “passed.” “That’s when she found out,” her mother said.
In the days that followed, villagers gathered at local temples to grieve, pray and honour those killed. They also came to see the little girl whose survival had been described by relatives as “a miracle.”
Mourners tied dozens of white, yellow and red “soul strings” around her tiny wrists – part of a Buddhist ritual meant to call back a person’s spirit after trauma. “It is to bring the spirit back into her body,” her mother explained. “It’s like the spirit had left the body and it is being called back.”
Panomplai lost a cousin in the massacre, one of several adults killed outside the nursery as they tried to reach the children inside. “There’s both good luck hidden in bad luck,” she said. “I’m lucky my child is okay, but I lost my cousin. Some people lost their only child, their hope.”
The nursery, which served around 90 local children, sits next to the district’s administrative offices and across from a sugar cane field. On the day of the attack, several factors – including monsoon flooding and a broken school bus – kept many children away, which may have spared more lives.
Nanticha Panchom, who runs the day care, was in the kitchen preparing lunch when the shooting began. “I never thought he would go inside,” she said, recalling the chaos. “It is almost impossible to imagine what this will mean for our township. We have lost so many children – our future.”
Local administrators echoed the sentiment. Chuanpit Geawthong, who works in the office next door and often checked on the children, said the attack shattered the sense of safety that had always defined Uthai Sawan. “Even during COVID, we did not lose anyone,” she said. “This is something that affects everyone. Our families are all connected, and now everyone here is grieving.”
The Thai government responded quickly, sending trauma experts from Bangkok to provide psychological support and offering financial assistance of at least 310,000 baht (around £7,000) per affected family to cover funeral costs and immediate expenses.