Body of missing 8 year old washes up on Thailand beach

The body of an eight year old Thai boy who was swept out to sea on Sunday washed up on the beach in Chumphon province in southern Thailand yesterday.

On Sunday afternoon, an American man working as a language teacher at a Christian school in Map Ammarit subdistrict, Pathiu district, took his wife, son and four of his students to the beach.

One of the students went to play in the water, floating on a rubber ring about three to five metres away from the shore, before he was swept away by a big wave at around 2pm.

Over 100 people joined the search party for the missing child, including officers from Pathiu Police Station, the subdistrict mayor, rescue workers and a diving team.

The team searched the waters of Chumpon all day until the search was temporarily suspended at 10pm.

In the morning, fishermen contacted the police to inform them they had discovered the boy’s body washed up on the beach at Thung Sang Bay in Chum Kho subdistrict, 1 kilometre away from where he was swept out to sea.

Officers said they are investigating the boy’s tragic death and if anyone is found to be at fault, they will be prosecuted according to the law.

The child’s body was taken to Pathiu Hospital for an autopsy.

Drowning remains the top cause of death among children under 16 years old in Thailand.

The decomposed body of a man washed up on the beach in the same district of Chumphon province on Sunday. Fishermen made the shocking discovery close to a popular tourist pier on Koh Khai island in the Pathiu district.

The deceased’s identity remains a mystery due to the thoroughly decomposed state of his body. Police estimated he died one or two months ago.

Pol. Capt. Sayant Tumrawat, deputy investigation chief at Pathiu, said that it’s too early to confirm whether the dead man was one of the missing sailors from the HTMS Sukhothai ship that sank during a storm in the sea off Prachuap Khiri Khan in December.