Drone Finds Missing 83-Year-Old Dead in Capsized Boat After Floods
An 83-year-old man who went missing during flooding in Chachoengsao province was found dead 12 days later when a drone spotted his capsized boat in a shrimp pond. The victim, Montri Muengfak, had been rowing daily to collect food supplies when he disappeared. His body was recovered tangled in bird netting that had prevented it from drifting away, and police are investigating the cause of death.
Tragically, a drone discovered the body of an 83-year-old man, his boat capsized in the water, 12 days after he went missing while rowing to collect food during flooding. The body was found tangled in a bird-trapping net, which prevented it from drifting away.
From the incident on October 11, 2026, Montri Muengfak, aged 83, a resident of Bang Kla district, Chachoengsao province, lived alone. When floodwaters inundated his house, he had to paddle a plastic boat out daily to receive boxed meals until villagers stopped seeing him return. They assumed he had gone to stay with relatives.
After several days with no contact, volunteers from the Chachoengsao Rescue Unit, Bang Kla station, were alerted to search but found nothing due to high water levels making the search difficult.
On the morning of October 23, 2026, Phairojn Boonhiran, head of the Chachoengsao Rescue Unit operations team, coordinated with the village head of Moo 1, Hua Sai subdistrict, Bang Kla district, to mobilize another search as water levels had receded significantly. Phairojn planned a search by boat along canals and flooded areas, while also deploying a drone for aerial surveillance. They spotted a suspicious orange capsized boat in the middle of a villager's shrimp pond. Flying the drone closer, they saw a person's legs floating outside the boat, confirming the body was likely Montri's.
After officials verified it was indeed the deceased, another rescue team was sent to retrieve the body to shore. They found the shrimp pond's bird-trapping net entangled with the boat, which had kept Montri's body from drifting away. Rescuers cut the net free from the body.
Rescue officials coordinated with Pol. Lt. Col. Komsan Paopiamthip, Deputy Inspector (Investigation) of Bang Kla Police Station, along with a forensic doctor from Bang Kla Hospital, to conduct a preliminary examination at the scene before sending the body for a full autopsy at the forensic institute to determine the cause of death at a later date, prior to releasing the body to relatives for religious funeral rites.
