Once a month, Nam-Oy Sangjang would visit the Erawan Shrine to pray for her ailing mother.
On Monday, the 30-year-old shop assistant was undertaking her monthly ritual with two friends, Namu Saefu and Namei Saetong. All three are from Mae Fa Luang district in Chiang Rai and worked together. They were reportedly lighting joss sticks when the bomb exploded.
Ms Namu suffered serious injuries, including broken legs and arms, and remains at Chulalongkorn Hospital. Ms Namei sustained minor injuries but has suffered hearing loss. She is being treated at Lerdsin Hospital. But in the aftermath of the blast, no one knew what had happened to Nam-Oy.
Her sister, Chantakansinee Sriwaranukul, received a phone call shortly after 8pm.
Ms Chantakansinee spent Monday night visiting more than 10 hospitals trying to find her sister.
On Tuesday, she claimed Nam-Oy’s body at Chulalongkorn Hospital.
Ms Chantakansinee said the family was of Thai-Lahu descent, an ethnicity from Thailand’s northern border with Myanmar.
According to local media reports, Nam-Oy’s parents are both ill and require care. Earlier in the week, it was reported they had not been informed of their daughter’s death.
In an interview with Thairath TV, Ms Chantakansinee said Nam-Oy’s two children were also yet to be informed of their mother’s death.
Her funeral was held at Pol Manee temple in Lat Krabang district, Bangkok, with the cremation taking place on Wednesday.
“I feel so sorry. I don’t have anything to say. I don’t know how to cope with this,” Ms Chantakansinee said, crying, at the funeral.
“Why does it have to be my sister?”