Car and skeleton recovered from canal, linked to missing Thai man
Police yesterday, January 12, recovered a sedan from an irrigation canal in Kanchanaburi, along with a human skeleton believed to belong to a Thai man who went missing more than two years ago.
Officers from Tha Muang Police Station were alerted to a submerged vehicle in an irrigation canal in the Tha Muang district at around 9.30am. The discovery was made after officials lowered the canal’s water level for maintenance and repair work.
The vehicle was identified as a bronze Toyota Vios sedan bearing a Chachoengsao registration plate กจ 147. The windscreen was shattered, and the car was heavily covered in algae, suggesting it had been underwater for a long period.
After the sedan was pulled from the canal, officers found a human skeleton seated in the driver’s seat. Using the registration plate, police identified the car’s owner as 61 year old Pattanasak Kanchanachokchai. The remains found inside the vehicle are believed to be his.
Pattanasak was reported missing by his wife in 2023. The wife and children were later contacted by police and travelled to the scene.
The woman reportedly broke down in tears upon seeing the remains. She told officers that her husband left their home on August 13, 2023, at around 9am and never returned.
Pattanasak’s nephew, 49 year old Wanpiya Kun-eung, said the man had previously worked with him at a garage. Shortly before his disappearance, Pattanasak contacted him to request an advance withdrawal of 8,000 baht in salary.
Wanpiya said he transferred the money to Pattanasak at around 5pm that day. However, at about 9pm, he was informed by Pattanasak’s wife that the man had gone missing.
Pattanasak’s wife added that her husband once owned a garage, but the business was forced to close during the Covid-19 pandemic. She said she had continued searching for him since his disappearance.
Police transferred the skeleton to a hospital for an autopsy and DNA testing to confirm the man’s identity and determine the cause of death. Once the forensic process is complete, the remains will be returned to the family for funeral rites.
In a similar case reported in Phitsanulok in August last year, a wrecked car containing a skeleton was discovered in a roadside ravine while rescuers were retrieving a crashed truck. The vehicle was later identified as a rental car, with GPS data placing it near the location where it was found.
