An 8-year-old boy who became a media sensation in Thailand after cycling some 100 kilometres in search of his mother has been reunited with her, police and news reports said on Thursday.
Wuthichai Boonthon rushed into the arms of his mother, Noi Boonthon, during the reunion on Wednesday at a mangosteen orchard in the southern Chumphon province, The Nation reported. Both broke into tears as they hugged, it said.
The local police had taken Wuthichai under their wing on Tuesday after being alerted by motorists who spotted the boy, weeping and shakily riding a bicycle along a road.
He told police that he had left his home in the Sawi district of Chumphon province, about 100 kilometres away, on Saturday to look for his mother, said Sergeant Nam Nualpradit who looked after the boy.
Nam said Wuthichai told him his mother had left home to live with her new boyfriend and that he was being looked after by his mother’s brother. Wuthichai ran away when his uncle beat him, said Nam.
The boy had been told by neighbours that his mother was working as a porter at a fruit market in the province’s Lang Suan district.
It was not clear how he lived for four days on the road. Police first took the boy to the fruit market in Lang Suan but couldn’t find her there. They later located her at the orchard, Nam said.
News of the boy on the bicycle made headlines in most Thai newspapers on Wednesday, and his plight was reported by radio and TV stations. – Sapa-AP