The Thai prison governor who died of injuries sustained in a hostage drama staged by a band of Myanmar convicts last month is to be given a royal honor at his cremation this week, reports said Sunday.
Governor Somwong Sirivej died Saturday of organ failure after spending 17 days in a critical condition as doctors battled to treat gunshot wounds to his head, leg and arms.
In a major honor for Somwong's family, a flame from the Royal Palace in Bangkok will be taken by a palace official to the temple where he is to be cremated December 16, and used to light the pyre.
Corrections Department director-general Siwa Saengmanee said a posthumous promotion and a recommendation for a royal decoration were being considered for Somwong, a father of two young children who had taken over the top job at the jail just two months ago.
"He was a good and able official," he told the Bangkok Post.
Somwong was the eleventh person to die in the incident, which began November 22 when convicts seized the governor and several warders and held a day-long siege at the jail in the central province of Samut Sakhon.
They then loaded up their captives in a van and headed off into the night for the Myanmar border.
Thai police commandos mounted a raid on their vehicle early the next day, killing all nine rebels. A prison teacher who had tried to resist the convict take-over and rescue the governor was shot earlier at the jail -- BANGKOK (AFP)
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