A FOREIGNER SAVES TWO THAI MEN AS BOAT CAPSIZES, ONE DROWNS..

A FOREIGNER SAVES TWO THAI MEN AS BOAT CAPSIZES, ONE DROWNS..

LOPBURI – A Western man living in Lopburi saved the lives of two Thai men in a boat capsizing accident in the middle of Sab Lek Reservoir in Lopburi Province on Saturday, but a third person went missing. Rescue workers spent seven hours searching before finding the body.

Officers from Khok Tum Police Station in Mueang District, Lopburi, received a report at 3:10 p.m. on June 1 that three people had drowned in the Sab Lek Reservoir, with one person missing, near Bott Camping in Village No. 2. They went to investigate along with divers from the Ruam Katanyu Foundation.

At the scene, the owner of the place and friends of the missing person were helping to send Mr. Arnon, a 32-year-old survivor, to the hospital after he had swallowed water and was exhausted. Another survivor, Mr. Sumethi, 32, was still out of breath but able to give a statement to the officers.

Officers from Khok Tum Police Station in Mueang District, Lopburi, and the Ruam Katanyu Foundation parked along the shore of the Sab Lek Reservoir.

Sumethi said that a group of five friends had come to relax and camp at the location. After drinking for a while, they invited each other to go out for a boat ride. He, Arnon, and Mr. Rungwit, 32, sat in the boat to go to an island in the middle of the Sab Lek Reservoir, even though Ms. Anchalee Rietveld, 48, the owner of the place, strongly warned them not to go out because of strong winds and the lack of life jackets.

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About an hour later, a female friend who had come with them shouted for help, saying that someone was drowning. This caused Anchalee, the camp owner, to run out and look. She said that at that moment, her heart sank because she could only see a person’s head bobbing up and down, drowning. She then called out to her foreign husband, Mr. Bernd, 64, to come out and help.

Mr. Bernd said when he saved two men, he did not know there was another man in the incident.

The husband grabbed a life jacket and put it on before rowing out to help Sumethi and Arnon back to shore, not knowing that there was another person, Rungwit, who, as it was later discovered, couldn’t swim and had sunk first. Later, diving officers tried to search for more than five hours before finding Rungwit’s body.

Sumethi said that just as they were about to row the boat back, a strong wind blew, causing a whirlpool. The boat spun, and they couldn’t control its direction until it capsized. They struggled to survive until their friend disappeared....