Search Intensifies for Missing 7-Year-Old Boy in Kalasin Rice Fields
Seven-year-old Thanapon Jaikumkao vanished while walking to a rice field with his grandparents in Kalasin Province’s Khao Wong district. Over 200 volunteers, police, and rescue teams have searched the area, checking five ponds and holding a traditional forest‑opening ceremony to seek spiritual assistance. As of the latest update, the boy remains missing and search efforts continue.
On October 19, 2026, lawmaker Chanawat Uttot of Kalasin Province’s 6th constituency posted on Facebook asking for public help to locate seven-year-old Thanapon Jaikumkao, who disappeared from Ban Kud Bod in Tambon Song Plaeng, Khao Wong District while walking to a rice field with his grandparents. He said the boy was last seen around 1:00 PM and noticed missing by 2:00 PM, prompting him to mobilize the Muen Hin rescue team, the Asok underwater unit, the Muen Hin underwater team, local officials Surapong Hasiri and Si Saw Rueangchai, and villagers. Approximately 200 participants, including police, district officials, village heads, and rescue workers, launched a carpet search, examining five ponds in the vicinity before halting operations at midnight due to darkness. Early the next morning, district chief Thawatchai Hemwang, provincial council member Surapong Hasiri, and the boy’s relatives performed a forest‑opening ritual to appease spirits and implore a swift discovery, while Chanawat Uttot again joined officials, volunteers, rescue squads, police, and over 200 residents to resume the search. Search teams divided to check likely spots such as nearby hills and the rice field, focusing on the ponds where the boy often played with a scoop and net to catch crabs and fish; the rice field lies about five kilometers from the main road, and as of the latest update the child has not been found.
