UTTARADIT: Five people drowned after a passenger boat hit a submerged tree and capsized in the Sirikit dam reservoir in Tha Pla district on Monday morning.
Pol Maj Prasert Sithilert, of Tha Pla police station, said the boat left Huay Ta village in tambon Nang Phaya shortly after 9am with 10 passengers and the boat's owner-operator on board. The boat was also carrying a cargo of agricultural goods.
About two kilometres from its destination of Ban Tha Rua, the boat hit a submerged tree because the dry season had caused water levels in the reservoir to drop. It quickly took on water and capsized soon after.
Upon being notified of the accident, rescuers from Uttaradit Songkroh Foundation immediately began a search and rescue mission.
Rescuers managed to pull six people out of the water, but five people -- Prarian Apiya, 52, the boat owner and operator, Chan Noikhan, 70, and Sanit Noikhan, Preeda Apiya, 43, and Sunitra Noikhan, 35 -- had already died.
Five of the survivors -- Koi Yasi, Chamnong Apiya, Thitiwut Noikhan, Porn Jaisopha, and Mana Thammawong -- were men while the sixth was a young girl named Supawadee Thammawong.