Toddler found 3km from Udon Thani home after wandering off

A three year old toddler wandered 3 kilometres from home in Udon Thani on Wednesday, July 31, while following a dog after their mother fell asleep from taking allergy medication. The child was found playing in a rice field, narrowly avoiding a fall into a nearby water pit.

This incident took place in the Khuea Nam subdistrict, Ban Phue district, Udon Thani province. A 23 year old single mother, shared her ordeal with reporters. She explained that she had taken painkillers and allergy medicine due to a toothache and potential flu symptoms, which made her sleepy. The woman inadvertently fell asleep in her rubber plantation hut. Upon waking around 4pm, she realised her three year old son had gone missing. She questioned her parents, who were working nearby, but they hadn’t seen him either.

The family, alongside community members, began a frantic search, checking nearby plantation huts but to no avail. They even alerted the local community leader, who organised a motorbike search party. After about three hours, they received news that the boy had been found, playing in a rice field at the village’s edge, approximately 3 kilometres from where he had disappeared. He had traversed through cassava fields, forests, and rice paddies. It was incredibly fortunate that the child emerged unscathed from the ordeal.

A 55 year old woman named Ae discovered the child. She recounted that she was herding her buffaloes into their pen when she heard a child’s laughter around 7.30pm. Initially, she thought it might be a ghost, as it seemed unlikely that a child would be playing in the water with a dog at that hour.

Concealed by the rice plants, she couldn’t see the child at first. Upon closer inspection, she found the boy playing in chest-deep water. She asked where he came from, but he couldn’t articulate much due to his age. Ae brought him to her field hut, bathed him, fed him, and then contacted the community leader.

The community leader informed the boy’s family, who had been tirelessly searching for him. Ae expressed disbelief that such a young child could wander so far without harm, given the treacherous route that included water bodies and dense vegetation. She noted that if the boy had walked another 50 metres, he would have undoubtedly fallen into a water pit. She urged all parents to keep a close watch on their children to prevent similar incidents, reported KhaoSod.