Temple Vehicle Swept Into Pond, Search for Missing Monk Continues
A flash flood swept a pickup truck carrying monks and a nun into a roadside pond in Ratchaburi Province on October 11, 2026, killing one monk who is still missing. Seven occupants were rescued, while the vehicle remained submerged for over four hours before being retrieved by divers. The incident occurred during a trip to chant the Patimokkha ceremony at a nearby temple.
Recovered! The Pak Tho forest temple pickup truck was swept into a roadside pond by flash flood while en route to chant the Patimokkha, rescuing seven monks, nuns and laypeople, but one monk remains missing. On October 12, 2026, rescue workers searched for Monk Sam (or Natthaphon Sirivittho), 30, of Wat Pa Mahauttumphon, after heavy rain caused flash flooding that swept the Mitsubishi bronze pickup, license plate from Samut Sakhon province, into the pond. The vehicle was carrying monks and a nun to Wat Phuket, three kilometers away.
Initially, seven people were rescued, but Monk Sam is believed to have been carried away by the current while the truck remained submerged. Divers spent over four hours to retrieve the truck from the pond, which is more than six meters deep.
Read more: Flash flood sweeps temple vehicle into creek, monks and nuns scramble to safety, seven rescued, one still missing in water.
Phan Tan, 48, a monk who survived, said they were traveling to Wat Phuket to chant the Patimokkha because it was the fifteenth day of the waxing moon, during Buddhist Lent. In front sat the driver, the abbot, and in the cab a nun; in the rear covered deck were five monks including himself.
When they set out, water levels were low, but as they approached the accident site a sudden surge from the mountains struck, pushing the rear of the truck and causing it to lose balance and slide into the pond. Monks, laypeople and nuns clung to trees to survive until help arrived.
The missing monk, known as Monk Sam, cannot swim and is presumed to have sunk in the pond. Though minor flooding had occurred before, nothing this severe. He admitted he was shocked.
Driver Chutinat, 65, said at around 11:00 a.m. he drove from the temple to take the monks for the Patimokkha ceremony, but upon reaching the site he saw the current was very strong. The senior monk riding with him advised to keep left, but he could not resist the water; the rear of the truck skidded and spun into the water.
In the front cabin were three people: a monk on the left, a nun behind the driver's seat, and the driver himself. In the rear covered deck were five monks. As the truck sank, each scrambled out. The driver escaped through the unfastened window, together with the nun and the senior monk on the side. The monk in front exited after the truck had sunk.
The five monks in the rear scattered, swimming to cling to trees and a nearby cattle fence, while one monk's whereabouts were unknown.
