Following a horrific news report that four unattended children fell from their fourth-floor Bangkok apartment in the early hours of Tuesday morning — an incident in which a 5-year-old boy died — their Swiss father has filed a police complaint.
Marcel Borel, who works as an English teacher in Bangkok, told local TV crews that his Thai ex-wife didn’t allow him to see the children after they divorced four years ago, and they were still in the middle of a custody battle prior to the tragic accident.
The children — two boys aged 5 and 10 and two girls aged 7 and 11 — plunged the four stories from their Ramkhamhaeng 34 apartment after allegedly climbing up and sitting on a piece of wood that was screwed on top of the balcony as a shelf.
Five-year-old Alex died at the hospital, while his 7 and 10-year-old siblings remain in the intensive care unit. The eldest suffered a broken leg.
The mother, 36-year-old Rattikarn Prakaikaew, told TV reporters through tears that she left the children with her parents, who live in the same building, while she was working the night shift at a hotel on Wireless Road.
The grandmother, Rattana, 63, said that she fed the children and returned to her own room after putting the children to bed, Sanook reported.
Neighbors described the children as “well-mannered,” adding that the family is in financial trouble as they live on Rattikarn’s small salary.
A police investigation is ongoing.
