No mobile phone so student kills himself

Jeerawat Kunsri, 17, hung himself inside his home in Lampang's Mae Phrik district on Saturday. His body was found late that night.

Jeerawat's parents had long separated and his mentally ill elder sister was staying with him.

Neighbours and his father, who lived just 100 metres away, said Jeerawat lamented about not owning a cellphone.

A model at school

"I am just a worker. I could give my son only Bt5 to Bt20 to spend each day," his father, Chaiwan Kunsri, says. "But I provided him with food."

Chaiwan says he could not afford to buy a cellphone. "I asked him to collect wild mushrooms with me so that we have money to buy a cellphone. But he's gone - before we could do it," Chaiwan says.

Saksunan Vittaya School director Boontham Somjai said Jeerawat was a model student because he had good academic records and had a helpful, cheerful personality.