Jaeyaena Beuraheng

Who is Jaeyaena Beuraheng?

Jaeyaena Beuraheng is an ethnic Malay woman of Thai nationality who made international headlines in early 2007 following her rediscovery by her children and friends after having disappeared for 25 years.

In 1982, Jaeyaena went on a shopping trip in neighbouring Malaysia by crossing over from her home province of Narathiwat. Her disappearance started when Jaeyaena boarded the wrong bus which took her to Bangkok instead of her intended destination. From Bangkok, she took another bus to Chiang Mai in the far north, an error which was attributed to her inability to speak and read Thai. Meanwhile, her family members were notified by the local authorities that she had been run over by an incoming train.

Jaeyaena led a life as a beggar for five years before being taken into a shelter for homeless people at Phitsanulok province. At the shelter, she was identified as "Auntie Mon" due in part to phonetical similarities between Mon and Beuraheng's Patani Malay language.