CityNews – A teacher in Chiang Rai has drowned in flash floods that have now killed at least two in the province and six people across the country, as heavy rain continues in northern Thailand.
Photo: Natthawat Arm, Chiang Rai News Centre.
Thawatchai Deepan, 43, the director of Ban Mai Suksan School in Chiang Rai’s Phayamengrai district, had been missing since last Friday.
Police and rescue teams had been searching for him for four days, and yesterday his body was found in the Tad Kwan reservoir, about 10km from where he went missing. The body was taken to Phayamengrai Hospital, where it was established that he drowned.
Thawatchai was from Nong Bua Lamphu province and had been working as a teacher in Chiang Rai for 17 years. To get to the school, he travelled 70km through forests from Muang district to Phayamengrai each day.
On the day he disappeared, he parked his car by the side of the road and got in a friend’s jeep to go to school, but the vehicle overturned in the floods. Thawatchai’s friend escaped, but he was carried away by the water. The local education office has donated 100,000 baht to his family.
Thawatchai was the second victim of the flash floods in Chiang Rai. Tan Saleesongsom, 64, also drowned after his car was caught in floods in Muang district last week.
Nationwide, six people have been killed in the floods and one is missing, the Bangkok Post reported today. Floods have hit 17 provinces, affecting more than 8,000 households. Although the situation has eased in some areas, Chiang Rai, Phichit and Chiang Mai are still in crisis, the report said.