Desperate evacuees, huddled on plastic mats in a sports hall in Thailand, have described fleeing from thunderous artillery bombardments as heavy fighting has escalated between Thailand and Cambodia.
The worst fighting in more than a decade between the neighbouring countries has forced more than 100,000 people to evacuate from their homes across four Thai border provinces by Friday.
As artillery fire echoed on Thursday, thousands from northeastern Surin province abandoned their homes for makeshift shelters established in the town centre.
Nearly 3,000 people crowded the sports hall of Surindra Rajabhat University, packed onto rows of plastic mats covered with colourful blankets and hastily gathered possessions.
“I’m worried about our home, our animals, and the crops we’ve worked so hard on,” Thidarat Homhuan, 37, told the AFP news agency.
She evacuated with nine family members, including her 87-year-old grandmother who had just been released from hospital.
“That concern is still there. But being here does feel safer, since we’re further from the danger zone now. At least we’re safe,” she said.
Thidarat was babysitting at a local school when she heard what she described as “something like machinegun fire”, followed by heavy artillery thuds.
“It was chaos. The kids were terrified. I rushed to the school’s bunker,” she said.
Inside the shelter, evacuees slept alongside one another beneath the gym’s high ceiling, surrounded by electric fans humming and the quiet whispers of uncertainty.
Elderly residents lay wrapped in blankets, infants slept in cradles, while children played quietly. Pet cats rested in mesh crates near the public restroom.
This marks the first full activation of the university as a shelter, according to Chai Samoraphum, director of the university president’s office.
Classes were immediately cancelled, and within an hour, the campus transformed into a functioning evacuation centre.
Evacuees from four border districts were distributed across six locations throughout the campus.
“Most of them left in a hurry. Some have chronic health conditions but didn’t bring their medications, others only managed to grab a few belongings,” Chai told AFP.
The centre, with assistance from the provincial hospital, is providing care for those with chronic illnesses and offering mental health services for trauma victims, Chai explained.
The border fighting has killed at least 14 people in Thailand, including one soldier and civilians killed in a rocket strike near a Sisaket province petrol station, officials reported. One Cambodian has also been confirmed killed.
As fighting continues near the border, evacuees face uncertainty about when they can return home.
For now, the shelter provides safety and a place to await signals that it’s safe to “go back to normal life”, Thidarat said.
She already has a message for the authorities: “I want the government to take decisive action – do not wait until lives are lost.
“Civilians look up to the government for protection, and we rely on them deeply,” she said.
Across the border in Cambodia, about 20,000 residents have evacuated from the country’s northern border with Thailand, the Khmer Times news organisation said, quoting officials in Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province.
