8-year-old girl drowns in Buriram’s Mun River, mother distraught
An eight year old girl tragically drowned after a boat capsized in the Mun River in Buriram province. Her 45 year old mother was left distraught. Survivors recounted the incident, highlighting attempts to bail water from the boat and the rescue efforts by a seven year old boy.
Yesterday, April 25, Phasakorn Phokham, a Police Lieutenant Colonel at Phutthaisong Police Station in Buriram, was informed of a drowning incident between Pla Khao village and the Mueang subdistrict. Emergency services and locals searched for the body of the eight year old girl, a second-grade student, while her family, including her bedridden grandfather, anxiously awaited news. Eventually, the girl’s body was recovered from the river.
The girl’s mother Ladda recounted that she had taken her daughter and four other relatives to the fields to collect ant eggs, leaving her daughter in the care of an aunt under the shade of a tree. She was informed of the accident when the aunt reported the girl had fallen into the water. Ladda suspected the boat was not seaworthy, as it was an abandoned village boat.
The boat rower and the only one among the four passengers who could swim, explained that he found the boat and decided to row across the river for fun. Two children, aged seven and eight, joined him along with an aunt. On their way back, the boat capsized in the middle of the river. The 18 year old rower managed to save the seven year old boy by swimming him to shore and then ran to the village for help.
Another survivor, 58 year old Phian said that just before the incident, the two children sat with her under a tree as the rower bailed water from the boat. Concerned, she joined them on the boat. After crossing the river, she felt uneasy and asked the rower to return to the other side, suspecting the water was deep.
As the boat reached the river’s centre, it capsized. Phian saw her seven year old grandson riding on the teenage rower’s back as he swam. However, she lost sight of the eight year old girl, who was seated at the boat’s rear.
Phian, unable to swim, felt herself sinking and swallowing water, certain of her fate. She heard her seven year old grandson shouting for help but struggled to respond. Gathering her strength, she swam closer to the shore, where a branch was extended to her. Grabbing it, she realised it was her seven year old grandson who pulled her to safety, crediting him with saving her life, reported KhaoSod.
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