Elderly man drowns in Samut Prakan amid financial woes

Tragedy struck in Samut Prakan when a 63 year old man from Buriram, was found drowned in a water pit near a local road in the early hours of today.

Responding to a distress call around 12.30am today, Wanuspong Madha, a deputy investigator from the Mueang Samut Prakan Police Station, arrived at the scene with paramedics from Samut Prakan Hospital and volunteers from the local charity foundation.

They discovered Kaew unconscious, pulled to the side of the water pit by residents. Despite about ten minutes of CPR, they were unable to revive him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The incident has highlighted the plight of older workers in Thailand. A Facebook post by the deceased yesterday read…

“When we work, we get cheated. No one wants to hire us because of our age. Lying in a room like a bedridden patient, what is there to live for? I can’t take it anymore; I don’t want to live.”

This statement, along with a conversation between Kaew’s son and his employer regarding unpaid wages, paints a picture of the desperation that Kaew may have felt.

Drinking alcohol

Eyewitnesses from the neighbourhood reported seeing Kaew by the water pit close to midnight, drinking alcohol. One local, who had been playing with their phone in their car around 9pm, noticed only Kaew’s shoes when they next looked, prompting them to find Kaew in the pit. They suggested that Kaew was not intoxicated, having consumed only a small amount of alcohol.

The 34 year old middle son of the deceased shared that his father worked as a security guard. He recounted how he had helped his father find this job but, due to his father’s age and lack of proper documentation, the employer had failed to pay him.

The son had confronted the employer regarding the unpaid wages earlier yesterday evening. After a confusing phone call with his father, who seemed drunk, the son later learned of his father’s tragic fate.

The 22 year old youngest son revealed that his father had been stressed about several issues, including work, finances, and funeral expenses for a relative that they couldn’t afford. Although Kaew often expressed a desire to die when he was drunk, he never acted on it, raising questions about why this time was different. The son was informed of his father’s death when someone came to notify him at his residence, on his 22nd birthday, reported Sanook.

The police plan to further investigate the incident, including reviewing CCTV footage from the area to determine the true cause of the tragedy. The body has been sent to Samut Prakan Hospital for an autopsy, after which it will be released to the family for religious rites.