Drunk policeman drives into canal

Rescuers prepare to haul the sunken Fortuner from the canal to the shore in Muang district, Nakhon Ratchasima. The driver, a policeman, fell asleep at the wheel after drinking at a party with his friends. (Photo by Prasit Tangprasert)
Rescuers prepare to haul the sunken Fortuner from the canal to the shore in Muang district, Nakhon Ratchasima. The driver, a policeman, fell asleep at the wheel after drinking at a party with his friends. (Photo by Prasit Tangprasert)

NAKHON RATCHASIMA: A policeman driving home from a party was lucky to escape alive when he drove his car off the road into a canal in the early hours of Wednesday.

Rescuers were called to the area about 4.50am.

They found a Toyota Fortuner in the canal. A Thai man aged about 40 years was waiting for help on the canalside. He appeared to be drunk.

Divers then attached a rope to the vehicle so it could be pulled to the shore

The driver (whose name was withheld) is a police officer based in Nakhon Ratchasima province. He was on his way home from a party with friends.

He told rescuers he felt drunk and sleepy, and finally dozed off behind the wheel. The next thing he knew he was in the water. Luckily, he had earlier opened some of the windows, and managed to get out the car and make his way to shore before it sank

The rescue team reported the drunk officer later hired another vehicle to continue his journey home. 

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Vocabulary

  • canal (noun): a waterway, a long hole in the ground made to send water from one place to another - คลอง
  • doze off: to fall asleep for a short time - งีบหลับไป, หลับไปโดยไม่รู้ตัว
  • hire: rent; to pay money for the use of something for a period of time - เช่า
  • rescuer: a person who saves someone from a dangerous or unpleasant situation - ผู้ช่วยชีวิต
  • rope (noun): very strong thick string made by twisting thinner strings, wires, etc. together - เชือก
  • sank: caused something or someone to go down below the surface or to the bottom of a liquid or soft substance; past tense of "sink" - จม
  • shore: the land along the edge of the sea or ocean, a lake or another large area of water - ชายฝั่ง
  • withheld (verb): to deliberately not give something to someone - ไม่เปิดเผย, ไม่อนุญาต, ระงับ, ถอนกลับ

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