Pet dog leads Songkhla family to drowned boy

webfact · June 22, 2018

Pet dog leads Songkhla family to drowned boy

By The Nation

A faithful dog led the family of a missing five-year-old boy to a Songkhla reservoir on Thursday night, where it turned out the youngster had drowned.

The body of Panattha Thammaro resurfaced at about 8am on Friday.

The family said the boy disappeared from home at 3pm Thursday and couldn’t be found.

Then, at 8pm, the dog, named Diew, returned home soaking wet and with red eyes, anxious but looking exhausted.

Diew led the family to a trail of Panattha’s footprints along the edge of the Nam Phru Plee Kwai Reservoir in Moo 2, Na Mom district, about two kilometres from their home.

Rescuers searched in vain throughout the night, with the dog pacing back and forth at the spot the boy is believed to have fallen into the water.

When the body resurfaced in the morning, Prasert Thammarai, the child’s father, swam out to retrieve it.

Officials believe the boy accidentally fell in while running with the dog, which then attempted a rescue on its own, perhaps repeatedly.

Panattha’s aunt, who asked not to be named, said the dog and the boy grew up together and were best friends.

The family said Diew first tried to block the vehicle taking Panattha’s body to hospital for a post-mortem and then ran after it for a distance.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30348360

thaiguzzi · June 22, 2018

Sad story. RIP kid.

Krataiboy · June 22, 2018

We don't know the whole story, but how can any child be permitted to wander so far away with just his pet mutt for company?

Now this little lad is just another sad statistic, one of the four children a day who will die by drowning in Thailand - between five and fifteen times the average for other countries.

The number of drownings, commonly in reservoirs, rivers and klongs, has dropped in recent years from an even higher average. But clearly more action is needed to further reduce the toll of these often-avoidable tragedies.

Edited June 22, 2018 by Krataiboy