The 47-year old man from Myamnar fell into the canal while watching the flooding, Phuket Info Center reported yesterday (Oct 21). The body was found near the floodgate “far enough from where he fell into the water”.
Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers took the body to Vachira Phuket Hospital for post-mortem examination which should confirm the cause of death.
Phuket Info Center earlier reported with reference to local Thai media that several people saw the man in the water waiving his hands to attract attention. Yet nobody could help the victim as the canal was too wide and the current was too strong.
The Myanmar man fell into the water some 3 km from the floodgate where his body was retrieved by Kusoldharm divers.
The floodgate, located in Moo 3, Chalong, was completed in 2019 at a cost B139 million, and included a pumphouse and shoring up two kilometres of the canal’s banks with concrete.
The floodgate was designed and built to help prevent flooding in Chalong and Wichit areas during the rainy season. The floodgate is to be closed during high tide to prevent sea water from stopping the outflow of the canal, and water will be pumped from the canal to the seabound side of the floodgate when water levels in the canal are high.