Pol. Lt. Thitiwat Asasingh, deputy chief investigator at Thalang Police Station, was notified of the incident that took place at Bang Ma Ruan reservoir at 3:40am yesterday.
The reservoir had served as the venue for the Loy Krathong festival in the surrounding Sri Soonthorn area.
Pol. Col. Nikorn Chuathong, Superintendent from Thalang Police Station, was dispatched to the scene where he spoke to witnesses who explained they had seen a man who appeared to be in his early 30s sitting on the edge of the reservoir looking for coins that had been left on floats in the water as part of the cultural festival.
Witness accounts, including that of a local security guard, further explained that the man then took off his shoes and left them with his mobile phone on the bank of the reservoir before walking into the water.
Shortly after, however, the man disappeared under water in what witnesses believe was a sudden drop in depth in the reservoir floor. One bystander then took to the water in an attempt to locate the man but was unable to find him.
Rescue divers from the Kusoldham Phuket Foundation who shortly after arrived at the scene then conducted a search and managed to retrieve the body around 4:30am.
The man, who police later identified as a Burmese national without disclosing any specific details such as his name, was pronounced dead at the scene and his body taken to Thalang Hospital to enable a post mortem to be conducted before being released to family members for funeral arrangements.
Police explained that during their questioning of witnesses at the scene they spoke to a local resident identified only as ‘Auntie Tik’ who said she had visited the reservoir after the annual Loy Krathong festival to collect coins left by people on the floating krathongs for the past 4-5 years and had regularly collected approximately B3,000 each time.
However, this year she was only able to collect between B200-300 as many more people were now doing likewise, she said.
“Nowadays, I get less because there are a lot of people coming to collect them,” police state ‘Auntie Tik’ as saying. “Most of the coins I get are B1 or B10. After I collect them, I exchange the coins. Most people don’t take 25 satang coins though,” she concluded.