KAMPHAENG PHET – Rescuers have found the body of a 6-year-old girl who drowned in the Ping River on January 29. Her body was located about 3 kilometers from the spot where she went under, caught in a bamboo clump along the riverbank.
Authorities said the body showed signs of animal bites, with injuries to the face, and her left arm was missing. The incident happened near a rock-lined embankment along the Ping River in Village 3, Tha Phutsa Subdistrict, Khlong Khlung District, Kamphaeng Phet.
CCTV footage reportedly showed two 6-year-old girls playing in the water when the current pulled them away. A 23-year-old man who was fishing nearby jumped in and managed to save one child, but the other was swept under and disappeared that evening.
After the accident, divers and rescue teams searched the area continuously for several days as the family waited in grief for any news.
At about 10:20 a.m. on February 1, village headman Ratchanon Sattayakam, along with local security volunteers, continued the search by boat.
They found the girl’s body around 3 kilometers downstream, stuck near bamboo along the bank in front of a eucalyptus grove in Village 6, Khlong Khlung Subdistrict. Rescue workers brought in a boat and cutting tools to clear the bamboo and recover the body.
Police and an on-call doctor from Khlong Khlung Hospital examined the body at the scene. They reported bite marks on the head and face, and the left arm was missing, believed to be due to scavenging animals in the water.
The girl’s body was placed in a shroud and prepared for release to relatives for religious rites, as the girl’s mother and family gathered for the transfer.
Ratchanon said search teams had been working for more than 60 hours before finding the child. He added that the body was floating face up, had begun to decompose, and showed early signs of being eaten by aquatic animals, so they moved quickly to bring her to shore.
