Three boys allegedly set fire to homeless man in Bangkok; police probe ongoing

A homeless man in Bangkok was allegedly set on fire by three boys, who reportedly filmed the incident. The extent of any injuries to the man is not clear.

In videos of the incident circulating on social media, what appears to be closed-circuit television footage from Monday (Jan 19) shows three children in the vicinity of a bridge. Two of the boys in the video can be seen wearing helmets. 

Two boys approached the bridge while the third stood further away, with what appears to be a phone in his hand, apparently to film the incident. A few seconds later, a fire erupts under the bridge and a column of black smoke can be seen.

The three boys are then shown running from the scene. 

According to The Thaiger, an English-language media site in Thailand, the victim was identified as 51-year-old Karn, a homeless man living under the Ban Ma Bridge in the Prawet district of Bangkok.

Officers from Prawet Police Station said that they had identified the three suspects, boys aged between nine and 15, but their identities have been withheld under child protection laws, The Thaiger reported on Thursday.

A report from Thai Channel 8 news clarified that the boys were aged 11, 12 and 15 years old, after earlier reporting that the youngest boy was nine years old. 

The report said that the homeless man is currently safe though his condition needed to be assessed, and that the local police had located the three boys suspected to be involved. 

Local news network Workpoint Channel 23 reported on Thursday that Karn was sleeping on a pile of cardboard boxes under the bridge, surrounded by plastic bottles he was planning to sell, when he allegedly felt something cold poured over his body that smelt like gasoline. 

Moments later, a fire broke out and he quickly fled the scene. The fire was also said to have damaged a nearby water pipe and assessment of the damage is ongoing.  

Karn said that this is not the first time that this group of boys has harassed him in the past one to two months, including previously throwing a water bottle and rocks at him, and cursing at him, Workpoint Channel 23 reported.

It also reported that the children, accompanied by their guardians, were being questioned by the police. 

Many Thai netizens were enraged by the incident, with some calling on authorities to impose punishments on the children equivalent to those applicable to adult offenders, in comments on local news reports about the incident.