NA PHO, Thailand—Four days after Hamas militants tore through southern Israel, a mournful procession of local officials here in Thailand’s bucolic east came to tell the family of Wichai Kalapat that the 28-year-old fruit farmer was among those killed. His girlfriend, Kittiya Thuengsaeng, hung a picture of him outside her front door.
On Saturday, Wichai appeared, Lazarus-like, in footage from a prisoner exchange. Shortly before midnight, his bewildered siblings happened to glimpse him, smiling from the back of a white Red Cross landcruiser, in a picture on Facebook, reluctant to believe it was him until his face appeared on a video call hours later.
Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8