UTTARADIT: A woman was confirmed drowned and four other people were missing after a passenger boat hit a stump and capsized in the reservoir at Sirikit dam in Tha Pla district on Monday morning, police said.
Pol Maj Prasert Sithilert, of Tha Pla station, said the boat departed from Huay Ta village in tambon Nang Phaya shortly after 9am with 10 passengers and the boat owner-operator on board. The boat was also carrying a cargo of agricultural goods.
A medic checks the condition of a girl, one of the passengers on the capsized boat, in Tha Pla district of Uttaradit on Monday. (Photo by Boonnam Kerdkaew)
In middle of the reservoir the boat ran into a tree stump uncovered by the falling level of the water, and capsized. The accident happened two kilometres from its destination, a boat pier at Ban Tha Rua in tambon Tha Pla.
A large number of rescuers from the Uttaradit Songkroh Foundation immediately began a search and rescue mission.
Six of the people on board were rescued, but five were unsighted. Those missing were three men - Prarian Apiya, 52, the boat owner and operator, Chan Noikhan, 70, and Sanit Noikhan, 51 - and two women - Preeda Apiya, 43, and Sunitra Noikhan, 35.
Sunitra's dead body was later found and recovered. The four others were still missing.
Five of the people who survived were men - Koi Yasi, Chamnong Apiya, Thitiwut Noikhan, Porn Jaisopha, and Mana Thammawong - and the sixth a young girl named Supawadee Thammawong.