Patong woman drowns after pickup skids off treacherous road into lake

A 50-year-old Patong woman drowned after her pickup truck careered off a treacherous road and plunged into a lake in the Kathu district.

Witnesses alerted police of the accident, opposite the GSM Duty Free Shop on Phra Phuket Kaew Road, at 6am on Sunday.

The bystanders said the woman, driving a blue Ford Ranger pickup with Phuket plates, failed to control her vehicle on the rain-sodden road and swerved into the pond.

Police officers and divers from the Kusoltham Phuket Foundation went to the scene and found the vehicle fully submerged in the water.

Scuba divers found a woman trapped inside the vehicle. She was already dead.

It took a crane 2 hours to lift the car out of the water. The rescuers then used hydraulic jacks to force-open the right front door to bring the body of the woman out.

The woman’s body was sent to Vachira Phuket Hospital for an autopsy, where she was identified by her son and daughter as Chanpen Sombat.

A police investigation revealed the woman was returning home near Patong beach in Kathu district from Phuket airport in heavy rain when she lost control of the vehicle at a bend and plunged into the pond.

Source Phuket News