Funerals for victims of the Thailand nursery massacre have begun as families mourn the death of children killed at a day care centre last week.
Makeshift furnaces made of clay bricks were built to cremate the tiny bodies after dozens of children were killed by a former police officer on Thursday.
Buddhist funeral rites were held by monks at three temples in the town of Uthai Sawan in northeastern Thailand on Saturday.
Yesterday, toys, flowers, milk bottles and sweets were placed alongside the small coffins with photos of children killed in the brutal attack.
Panya Khamrap killed more than 30 people in a rampage through the town on October 6.
Then former police lieutenant, who was dismissed from the force for illicit drug use, also killed his wife, child and himself after the rampage in Nong Bua Lamphu, some 333 miles north-east of Bangkok.
Police said the killer was deeply troubled by marital and money problems following his suspension from police duty in January, after he admitted to using two types of methamphetamine.
"He wanted to vent. We learned from his mother that on the day of the incident he was quarrelling with his wife," local police chief Chakkraphat Wichitvaidya told Reuters.
"He may have wanted to do something bad."
Oy Yodkhao, the grandmother of a four-year-old boy named Thawatchai Siphu, who was killed in the massacre, said: "I could not imagine he was this cruel to children."
Yesterday, the Mirror reported that a toddler survived the massacre while sleeping under a blanket in the corner of her classroom.
Paveenut Supolwong's parents believe their daughter's nap saved her life as her face and body were covered when the killer burst into the nursery.
Ammy's mother, Panompai Sithong, said she is still "in shock" following the massacre.
The woman explained: "I feel for other families... I'm glad that my kid survived. It's a mixed feeling of sadness and gratitude."
The tragedy was the biggest mass killing by an individual in Thailand's history.
