A five-year-old girl died from her wounds when a shotgun fired while she and two young boys were playing alone in a room in Kanchanaburi on Monday.
Police said the shooting occurred about 1.20pm at a house belonging to the village chief.
Police and medics found the girl lying unconscious in a pool of blood in a room.
She had been hit in the left leg above the knee by a shotgun round which continued through to her right leg. The deep wounds in both legs caused profuse bleeding.
The girl was rushed to hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
A daughter-in-law of the house owner said she was in the house at the time. The girl and two boys aged six and seven, who were cousins, were playing in the room.
She later heard a gunshot and rushed to the room. The girl, Natnicha Onsomkij, was slumped against the wall, bleeding heavily from both legs. There was a shotgun on the floor nearby. The two boys were looking at her in a deep shock. She called the police.
Police said the shotgun was given to the village security team and kept by the village chief.
The village chief stored the gun in the room where the children went to play.
He said it was still not clear how the children managed to get hold of the loaded gun and how it was discharged.
