BANGKOK: An undertaker in Thailand reportedly resorted to an unusual step at a petrol station to ensure a timely cremation for a deceased man.
Preecha Ngernkasem, 48, who works at a temple in Ban Bueng, Chonburi, said in a
Facebook livestream in Thai that he was initially refused fuel when he approached the station.
“I went to ask for fuel at the petrol station, but they did not fill the jerrycans for me,” he said.
He had earlier collected the body of an unidentified homeless man, who reportedly died of unknown causes, from a hospital in Chonburi and stopped at the station while travelling in his pickup truck.
According to Bangkok publication
The Nation, he said the cremation needed to be carried out quickly as the deceased’s family could not afford to store the body for long.
“I decided to take the coffin and put it in (the back of my vehicle) along with the jerrycans,” he said.
Petrol station staff declined to fill his 18-litre jerrycans, citing strict policies against fuel hoarding introduced following the war in the Middle East.
Preecha then parked his vehicle, opened the rear compartment and revealed a white coffin placed neatly alongside the jerrycans.
He later managed to convince the station manager, who asked staff to assist in filling the jerrycans.
The deceased was subsequently given a cremation on March 28.
