PUBLISHED : 12 Dec 2023 at 11:30
SURIN: Five members of one family, three of them children, have drowned while collecting sand from the bed of the Mun River in Chumphon Buri district.
Their bodies were found in water five metres deep, and recovered, on Monday night
Police and rescue workers were rushed to the Mun river at Ban Khok Klang in tambon Chumphon Buri, adjacent to tambon Tha Muang in Buri Ram’s Satuk district, after the five were reported missing about 8pm on Monday.
Police found a farm truck, sandals and clothing of the missing people on the riverbank. Rescue teams from Buri Ram and Surin provinces searched the river and about an hour later found the bodies in the middle of the river. Relatives waiting anxiously on the riverbank burst into tears as the news spread.
The five were identifid as Viriya Khadcha, 45, his daughter Nutcharin Khadcha, 23, and her three children – girls aged 14 and 11 years and a boy aged 8. There were no indications of them having been attacked, police said.
Relatives cast no doubts over the deaths. The bodies were examined by a hospital doctor before being handed over to relatives for funeral rites. (continues below)
Clothes and sandals found left on the bank of the Mun River in Chumphon Buri district, Surin, on Monday night. (Photo: Surachai Piragsa)
Viriya’s grieving wife Bang-orn Surit, 44, said her husband went with their daughter Nutcharin and their three grandchildren to collect sand from the river on Monday, for use in making concrete for their new house.
When darkness fell and the five had not returned, she and other relatives went to look for them. They found only their farm truck, clothes and sandals on the riverbank. She called police.
Ms Bang-orn suspected her three grandchildren were swept away by the strong river current while playing, and her husband and daughter drowned trying to save them. There were no witnesses to the tragedy.