A park ranger drowned while trying to retrieve a mobile phone a visitor dropped into a stream inside a cave in Kanchanaburi on Tuesday afternoon.

Tham Sao Hin and nearby Tham Nok Nang Aen cave have been temporarily closed to the public.

Paisan Wanphet, 43, volunteered to enter rain-swollen Khlong Ngu stream to recover the tourist’s phone about 1pm on Tuesday. He dived into the fast-flowing stream, was promptly swept away and disappeared.

As other rangers led about 120 tourists in the party out of the cave, rescuers also entered the stream, looking for the ranger and hoping to save him. They found his body about 9pm on Tuesday, trapped in rocks about four metres underwater.

The stream was deep and very cold at the time and the shock of entry could cause cramp, an official said.

Tham Sao Hin is a major attraction of Lam Khlong Ngu National Park in Kanchanaburi province. It is about 500 metres long with the highlight being a towering limestone pillar 62 metres high, one of the tallest in the world.

The drowned ranger's family would receive compensation of 570,000 baht.