A COMMITTEE of the National Legislative Assembly is looking for measures to prevent a recurrence of the fire that killed 17 girls at a school dormitory in Chiang Rai province late on Sunday.

Wallop Tangkananurak, chairman of the NLA committee on the affairs of children, women, youth, the elderly, people with physical disabilities and the underprivileged, yesterday said the panel had invited relevant agencies to a meeting next week to discuss preventive measures.

“We need to prevent such a tragedy from recurring,” he said.

He added that the meeting would also discuss other risks at schools such as electrocution hazards.

On Sunday night, a fire broke out at the charity-run Pitakkiatwittaya School, killing 17 girls there.

All of the girls were 12 years old or younger.

Schools, non-governmental organisations and even temples now provide shelter for children, Wallop said, adding that such organisations said they had emergency plans in place but rarely provided the details.

“So we will need to discuss [the issue],” Wallop said.

Meanwhile, the charred bodies of 13 girls who died in the dormitory fire in Chiang Rai will be airlifted to Bangkok so their remains can be identified.

Pol Colonel Krissana Pattanacharoen, National Police Office deputy spokesman, said yesterday that forensic physicians in Chiang Rai were only able to identify the bodies of four victims, so the remains of the other victims had to be sent to the better-equipped Institute of Forensic Medicine in the capital.

Pol Maj-General Dr Pornchai Suteerakune said DNA traces could be extracted from the bones and compared with the DNA of the girls’ parents.

“The identification process will take a few days,” he said.

In Chiang Rai, funeral services were held yesterday for the victims who have already been identified.

At one of the funerals, the body of Pornnapa Pisailert, 11, was buried in line with the traditions of the Akha people, an indigenous hilltribe ethnic group in northern Thailand.

She left behind her father and three siblings.

“I feel so sad. I just sent her to her school on May 8,” her father Winai Pisailert said.

He said he would not send his other children to schools far from his home, which is in Chiang Rai’s Mae Suay district, while Pitakkiatwittaya School is in the province’s Wiang Pa Pao district.

“I want to make sure they are nearby so that I can protect them from any harm that arises,” the grieving father said.