SA KAEO: An elderly couple who went missing 10 days ago after leaving their home in Bangkok for a merit-making ceremony in this eastern province have been found dead in a car pulled from a canal in Khao Chakan district.
Police went to the canal at Ban Fangkhlong village in tambon Nongwa on Saturday after being alerted about the submerged car.
Rescue workers were called to the scene to help pull the Toyota Vios with Nakhon Nayok licence plates from the water. The bodies of two people, identified later as Anek Hiranrak, 81, and his wife Jarawee, 76, were found inside. Police found no bruises on their bodies. Their ID cards, belongings and Buddha amulets were found inside the car.
The officers believed they had died at least 10 days before their bodies were discovered, Thai media reported.
Pol Col Ek-anan Hukaew, chief of the Khao Chakan police station, said a son of the couple had earlier filed a missing persons report with at the Huai Khwang station in Bangkok. He said his parents had left their condominium unit in Bangkok on Oct 20 for a merit-making ceremony in Khao Chakan district.
They later lost contact until local residents fishing in the area noticed a car submerged in the canal in front of the weir.
Pol Col Ek-anan said heavy rain had hit the area in recent days. The victims might not have been familiar with the route and this could have caused their car to skid off the road and plunge into the canal. However, police are still investigating the exact cause of the deaths.