Thai relatives overjoyed, but Kanyarat still waits for her loved one

File Photo : Kanyarat Suriyasri, the wife of Thai worker Owat Suriyasri who is being held hostage by Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.//AF{

Kittiya Thuengsaeng thought her 28-year-old boyfriend was among the almost 40 Thais killed in Hamas’s deadly assault on Israel last month.

But on Friday night Thai officials shocked her with news so good it seemed impossible.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” she told AFP, describing the moment she saw a photograph of Wichai Kalapat after he was released from weeks in captivity.

“I had a chat with him in the morning. He was still smiling. He told me he was safe.”

Thailand’s foreign ministry said Saturday that 10 Thai hostages had been released by Hamas and would be returned to the kingdom “as soon as possible”, after undergoing medical checks in Israel.

Twenty Thais remain among the approximately 215 hostages still held…