Farmer Drowns After Tractor Overturns Into Ayutthaya Canal

PHRA NAKHON SI AYUTTHAYA — A 61-year-old farmer was killed after his tractor overturned into an irrigation canal and trapped him underwater in Bang Ban district on Saturday.

Police were alerted to the accident at about 14:00 along an irrigation canal road in Moo 1, Kop Chao subdistrict.

Officers and rescue workers arriving at the scene found the tractor overturned in the canal, with its wheels pointing upwards and about half of the vehicle submerged.

The driver, identified as 61-year-old Samran Charitkhuan, was found trapped beneath the tractor. A crane was brought in to lift the vehicle from the water before rescuers recovered his body.

Relatives and family members gathered at the scene as the recovery operation was carried out.

Neighbour Sangwan Buaprasert, 61, said Samran would normally leave home early in the morning to work in his rice fields and return home for lunch. When he failed to return at midday, his family became concerned and began searching for him.

Samran's wife later found the tractor submerged in the canal and alerted relatives and neighbours. One relative entered the water to investigate and discovered that Samran was trapped beneath the vehicle, but he could not be rescued in time.

Police said it was not immediately clear when the accident occurred. Investigators initially believe Samran was driving down from the canal-side road towards a rice field when the tractor lost control on a bend, overturned and fell into the canal. He was apparently pinned beneath the vehicle and drowned.

Police documented the scene and said further inquiries would be conducted to establish the exact cause of the accident. The body was taken to Bang Ban Hospital for a post-mortem examination before being released to the family for religious rites.