NAKHON RATCHASIMA: A policeman driving home from a party was lucky to escape alive when his large SUV plunged off the road into a canal in Muang district in the early hours of Wednesday.
Rescuers were called to the Khon Chum irrigation sluice gates in tambon Nai Muang about 4.50am.
They found a Toyota Fortuner in the canal, according to Hook 31 rescue team. A Thai man aged about 40 years was waiting for help on the canalside. He appeared to be inebriated.
Divers then attached a towrope to the drowned 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 in downtown Muang district, heading to Wang Nam Khieo district.
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 floated away and sank.
The rescue team reported the drunk officer later hired another vehicle to continue his journey home. He sustained no injuries and there were no damaged parties - but the SUV's electrical system was shorted out
.