UBON RATCHATHANI: Three children were drowned and a fourth rescued from the Chee River on Sunday.
The four had followed a group of adults from Ban Tha Hai in Khuang Nai district who went to collect edible plants from the water's edge on Sunday evening. The children were playing on the bank and one of them slipped into the river, prompting the others to jump in to help their friend.
Pol Col Viroj Khae-nok, duty officer of Khuang Nai police station, said one of the adults managed to pull Khemjira Srikerdkhuen, a 6-year-old girl, from the river, but the three others were swept away.
Rescuers from the Jee Tum Koh Foundation found their bodies later in the night. They were identified by police as Kittipat Chunet, an 11-year-old boy, and two girls, Kwanjira Srikerdkhuen, aged 8, and Pattaranit Chaiyapornkulnarong, aged 9 years.
Kwanjira was the rescued girl's sister.