Video Report: Missing boy reunited with family

PHUKET: Tireless efforts made by police, search teams and rescue workers today helped reunite a missing three-year-old boy with his family.

Nong DJ was recovered safe and sound on a hill about three kilometers from his home in Wichit, where he went missing on Wednesday (story here).

“We found him at about 11:40am lying in a shallow waterway, covered by leaves. We lifted him up, covered him with dry clothes and immediately radioed to our team below to inform his mother,” said Pattarawut Akanittakron, a member of the Kusoldham rescue team.

Search teams were alerted to the boy’s general location after a man living in a shack on the hill told the boy’s grandfather that he had seen a child matching Nong DJ’s description three days earlier.

23-year-old Saowalak Chaiyo has yet to speak publicly about her son’s rescue. However, Kusoldham Foundation rescue workers captured video of the sobbing mother as she held her son for the first time since he’d gone missing.

Though the child was very weak, he can be heard telling his mother not to cry.

The search team accompanied the boy to the hospital, describing his condition as weak, but responsive.

“We gave him saline, vitamins and nourishment and also treated him for minor cuts and scratches,” Dr Jiradesh Panyasuttigit, a pediatric surgeon at Vachira Phuket Hospital, told the Phuket Gazette. “Child psychiatrists will also be in to check on his well-being.”

Dr Jiradesh noted that Nong DJ seemed to be behaving normally, but that doctors would keep him under observation in case any complications occurred.

“We are so glad that he is safe and sound under the doctor’s care. We are immensely proud to have been a part of this mission,” Mr Pattarawut said.

— Chutharat Plerin