KHON KAEN: A construction contractor was killed when the car he was driving veered off a road and plunged into an irrigation canal in Nam Phong district on Saturday night, police said.
Pol Capt Thavorn Laophaeng, a Nam Phong police duty officer, said the accident was reported to the police at 7am on Sunday after local residents found a car submerged in an irrigation canal along a road in tambon Ban Kham.
Police and a rescue unit arrived at the scene shortly afterwards. A crane was used to pull up the car from the canal. It was a Khon Kaen-registered Toyota Vios.
In the car, a man was found dead at the driver's seat, still wearing his seat belt. From an ID card in his wallet, he was identified as Narong Sriwicha, 48, a construction contractor from Khon Kaen's Muang district.
The body was sent to Srinakarin Hospital in Muang district for an autopsy.
Pol Col Anusak Sakdavacharanond, the Nam Phong police chief, said that according to his friends, Narong drove to Ban Na Kham Noy in Nam Phong district to pay daily wages to his workers on Saturday. After a drinking session, he drove back to Khon Kaen at night during heavy rain.
Police were investigating.