Missing children

Tuesday's life section had a long story about how and why children go missing. In this excerpt we find out how big organisations like Tesco Lotus and the BTS deal with the problem.

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Tuesday's Life section of the Bangkok Post had a long story about how and why children go missing. Many children simply get lost and two of the most common places in a big city like Bangkok are shopping malls and mass transportation areas. Here is how big organisations like Tesco Lotus and the Bangkok Mass Transit System PCL deal with the problem. You can read the full story here: http://www.bangkokpost.com/lifestyle/family/394347/the-curious-cases-of-missing-children

Missing children

Napamon Roongwitoo
Arusa Pisuthipan

A safety harness like this one might be a good thing if your child is particularly energetic and playful.

Big cities, shopping malls and mass transportation areas are common locations for children to get lost. It is therefore not uncommon to hear announcements at department stores, notifying parents to pick up a missing child. However, when an announcement is made, it is not always the parents who get to the counter first.

While it seems like a straightforward process — you lose your child, someone takes him or her to the information desk, and you come to collect your child — it is not as simple or safe as it looks. On a parenting web forum, a mother shared a story about her child.

“We were at a downtown department store and my child was missing. I heard the announcement and ran to the information desk,” she recalled. “When I picked him up, the information counter officer told me that a woman had come and tried to take my child away, saying she was my friend and that I had asked her to fetch him for me. Luckily, my son said he had never seen her before, and the woman just walked away.”

Tesco Lotus corporate affairs director Salinla Seehaphan said that parents are often reminded never to let their children out of their sight when going to a shopping mall, particularly on escalators and walkways where children are likely to run around. Leaving children in a trolley is also a dangerous thing.

“Some of our stores have specially made ‘car driving’ trolleys for kids to sit in, but in any case, children riding alone in a shopping trolley is dangerous and not recommended,” Salinla said. “Staff or security will take a lost child to the customer service desk, and an announcement on the store’s PA system will be made to locate the parents,” she said, adding that while the store does try its best to keep everyone safe, customers are strongly recommended not to leave small children unattended.

Surapong Laoha-Unya, chief operating officer of the Bangkok Mass Transit System PCL, said that it is quite common for children to be lost while taking the skytrain, but the company has a policy to handle such situations.

“If our staff sees a child left unattended, we will alert every station because chances are the parents are not at the station where the child is. So far, we haven’t had any case of children who can’t find their parents,” he said.

He also warns that sometimes parents are so focused on trying to get on the train when the doors are about to close that they forget that their child is not on the train. It is also common for children to run into the train without waiting for the parents.

“Always hold your child’s hand while waiting for the train and getting on and off the train, because the train and the stations are very busy places,” Surapong said.

For parents who have lost their child on the train or at a station, inform a BTS officer right away.

“All of our stations have a communication system, which allows us to help find the child immediately. If we find a lost child, we will keep him or her at the station and alert every station. When the parents pick up the child, we also make sure that the child can confirm that they are the parents, not strangers.” He also added that passengers who notice a lost child should also inform the staff immediately.

สามารถฝึกอ่านออกเสียงและดูคำแปลได้ที่ : http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/394411/missing-children