AYUTTHAYA – The confirmed death toll from the river ferry boat that crashed and sank on Sunday rose to 20, with 12 still missing, search and rescue authorities said late Monday.
Twelve of the victims were women and girls, while three were men and two were boys, aged four and eight. Details of the other three victims were not immediately known.
The search teams said they had the identities of 12 people who were aboard the boat and unaccounted for. Others may also be missing.
Ayutthaya governor Prayoon Rattanasenee said of the 46 people treated for injuries, four were still in hospital as of Monday evening.
The official death toll continued to rise on Monday as divers located bodies trapped underwater, mostly inside the submerged section of the boat.
A burial ceremony is planned for 15 of the deceased at the Muslim graveyard in Ayutthaya, where they were members of the mosque. It is about two kilometres from the place where the ferry hit a concrete pillar on the embankment and sank in the Chao Phraya River in front of Wat Sanam Chai.
Police on Monday morning detained the ferry boat driver, 67-year-old helmsman Virat Chaisirikul.
Pol Col Napol Kladkhemphet, deputy commander of Ayutthaya police, said he had been charged with reckless driving causing death.
He also faces charges of carrying more passengers than the boat was permitted to carry. It was licensed for 50 passengers, but there were around 150 on board. His boat driving licence had also expired.
He was being held pending further questioning.
The boat’s owner Sunthorn Phansuethong had contacted the police, Pol C ol Napol said, and he would be questioned later. He would also be charged with carelessness causing death.
Police would cooperate with the Marine Department in investigating whether the boat was operating legally and carried the required life saving gear.
Malee Krayor, a Muslim from tambon Sampaolom of Muang district, took her six-year-old nephew, who had survived the sinking, back to the river on Monday. She said he wanted to look for his favourite shoes, which he had lost when the boat went down.
The boy and his mother were on the top deck of the boat and both were rescued after clinging to a pole.
Ms Malee said her relatives who were in the boat said the driver had tried to overtake a sand barge. The boat became unstable as it was buffeted by the strong river current. There was a loud noise as it hit something and then it sank in about one minute.