A 30-year-old Thai man and his 6-year-old son were among those found dead from the mudslide in Montecito, California — the death toll had risen to 20 by yesterday.
The body of Pinit Sutthithepa, originally from Khon Kaen province, was the last recovered by California authorities yesterday, following the mudslide that devastated an estimated 73 homes and damaged two hundred others in early hours of Jan. 9.
Pinit’s 6-year-old son Peerawat was discovered dead the day of the tragedy while his two-year-old daughter Lydia is still missing. His American step-father Richard Taylor, 67, who owned the house where they were staying, did not survive. The mud swept away their home while the family was sleeping.
Pinit’s Thai wife, Yupawan, and mother, Boonperm, who were living at the same house, were safe from the disaster because both were at work at nearby grocery store Vons supermarket.
The two Thai women were given temporary housing from Toyota, where Pinit had worked for about two years.
According to their close Thai friend in Ontario, only identified as Kamolporn, Pinit moved to the States in early 2016 and had been working at Toyota in Santa Barbara to send money back to his family in Thailand. Later that year, he successfully brought his wife and children to the U.S.
Kamolporn described the family as “lovely,” adding that Pinit was like a brother to her Thai husband, Siam Town US reported.
Mike Caldwell, Pinit’s supervisor at Toyota, started a Go Fund Me campaign for the Thai family, which has raised over US$107,900 (THB3.4 million).
“This family has lost everything but the clothes they were wearing. Clothing, food, shelter, and comfort has been provided by the families’ employers, friends, and teachers,” he wrote.
Caldwell attached a picture of where the Thai family’s home once stood, which is now nothing but empty area covered in mud.
The mudslides devastated Montecito early Tuesday as the rain poured down on the hills recently burned by December wildfire.
LA Times reported that over 200 buildings were damaged by the mudslides, with 73 homes completely destroyed.
After days of scouring the mud and debris looking for survivors, authorities transitioned into a search-and-recovery phase yesterday.
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