Thai nurse defies Buddhist custom to save monks in deadly crash

This photograph released by the Phu Manorom temple shows a group of Thai Buddhist monk posing for a picture at Phu Manorom temple in Mukdahan province, Thailand, Thursday, July 2, 2026 (Phu Manorom temple via AP)

A nurse in Thailand challenged Buddhist customs when she stepped in to treat the victims of a car accident that killed 10 monks.

An 11-year-old boy, who took his parents’ pickup truck without permission, ploughed at speed into a procession of 35 monks and five lay followers in northeastern Thailand on Thursday.

Minutes later Wiwat Laonoi stepped in to help, despite the Buddhist taboo in which women cannot touch monks and vice versa.

“People told me, ‘Wait, that’s a monk!’, but I said it doesn’t matter, right now, this is a patient,” she told AFP.

Wiwat, who has been a nurse for nearly four decades, said she was the first responder at the “massive” accident, adding that she had “never seen anything like it”.

“No other responders (had) arrived yet, it was just me,” the 61-year-old said adding that she “had to stay clear-headed”.

Wiwat immediately checked pulses, performed CPR, and coordinated with the local hospital, moving from one victim to the next at speed.

Five monks died at the scene on Thursday, and another five died later in hospital. As of Friday, 10 other people were still hospitalised -- two in critical condition and eight others with non-life-threatening injuries.

Wiwat was travelling with hospital employee Parichat Kochakueng at the time, who filmed her as she worked.

“It looked really scary, a lot of monks laying on the road,” Parichat said.

Wiwat is from Mukdahan province, where the accident happened, and hopes to keep volunteering in communities with limited medical care after her retirement coming up in September.

“As a Thai, as a nurse, I’m very proud, I got to use what I know to help my fellow human beings,” she said.