PHATTHALUNG: The owner of a pig farm and his two young daughters in Tamot district were killed by toxic gas from a waste-treatment pond after he tried to rescue them on Wednesday night.
The deaths of the three family members occurred at the farm in tambon Khong Yai at around 9pm, said police.
The bodies of Peeraphat Mato, 30, owner of the farm, and his two daughters Nantha, 7, and Patchayom, 9, were taken from the pond when police and rescue workers arrived.
Peeraphat’s wife Erawan Mato, 36, told police that her husband and her two daughters had left for the farm, about 3km away from their house. Peeraphat cleaned the pig's den and fed the animals while the girls were playing near the waste treatment pond in the area.
Ms Erawan said she and her relatives went to look for them as they did not return home after dusk. She found her husband and her two daughters lying unconscious on a tarpaulin covering the pond. The tarpaulin was torn and covered with pigs' dung. She and her relatives then retrieved the three bodies from the pond.
A police investigation found that the father went to look for his daughters after they had disappeared for a long time. He later found they had fallen into the pond, which was around 800 sq m and 7m deep. The man then jumped into the pond to rescue his daughters.
Thai media reported that the girls were playing on a tarpaulin covering the pond. The material might have been torn while they were playing on it, causing them to fall into the pond. The girls collapsed after inhaling toxic gas from the pond.