Accident Sisaket: 3 Young Girls Drown Before 4-Year-Old’s Eyes

[Georgealbert]

 

Picture courtesy of Naewna.

 

An incident unfolded in Rasri Salai district, Sisaket province, as three young girls, two of them twin sisters, drowned in a pond while playing, as a 4-year-old boy watched helplessly.

 

On 31 May, the Sisaket Songkroh Foundation’s Rasri Salai unit received an urgent report of three missing children presumed to have drowned in a rural pond near Ban Don Muang village, Nong Ueng subdistrict. The incident occurred approximately one kilometre from the village centre. The foundation immediately called in a water rescue team from Uthumphon Phisai district for assistance.

 

Rescue teams arrived at the scene to find villagers already in the pond, frantically searching. The victims were later identified as Miss Papassorn, aged 9 and 10-year-old twins Miss Jaruwan and Miss Juthamas. All three girls were eventually retrieved from the water and rushed to Rasri Salai District Hospital, but despite all efforts, none could be revived. The devastating news prompted grief-stricken scenes among their families, with some relatives collapsing in shock at the hospital.

 

Four-year-old Peach, who had been playing with the girls, recounted the harrowing moment. He told adults that the group had been cycling together when they arrived at the pond. The girls, reportedly trying to wash dirt from their clothes, entered the water and suddenly began to drown before his eyes. In panic, Peach ran back to the village to alert nearby adults.

 

Mrs Ratri, aged 56, the grandmother of the twin sisters, said she had raised them since they were one month old. The girls were described as well-behaved, studious, and responsible. “They always helped with house chores and arranged their shoes neatly,” she said through tears. “I had hoped they would help care for me in old age.”

 

Mrs Uthai, 56, grandmother of nine-year-old Papassorn, said she was first alerted by Peach and rushed to the scene. She even jumped into the pond to try and find her granddaughter but was unable to help due to the water’s depth. “I called out to the villagers and we all searched desperately,” she said. “I had raised her since birth and now she is gone. I fainted when I was told she had died.”

 

The tragedy has left the small rural community in deep mourning as authorities remind guardians of the dangers of unsupervised play near water bodies.

 

  Adapted by Asean Now from Naewna 2025-06-02.

 

 

 

[ChrisY1]

Why swimming is not taught here is just plain dumb! Wet season, rivers are swollen..ponds are full, but stupidly, swimming is not important!

3 kids gone, just adds to the drowning statistics of Thailand!

[thai006]

don't know why thai people let them child go away at that age 

 

my child have 15 and 13 and they never go out alone 

[fredwiggy]

I'm thinking a large majority of adults don't know how to swim, nor care to teach, so won't try to teach their children the basics of staying afloat and making it to shore. More kids raised by grandparents not capable of some of the basics of child rearing. 

[thai006]

4 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

I'm thinking a large majority of adults don't know how to swim, nor care to teach, so won't try to teach their children the basics of staying afloat and making it to shore. More kids raised by grandparents not capable of some of the basics of child rearing. 

sadness  that why i tech my child , now they can swim

[impulse]

21 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

I'm thinking a large majority of adults don't know how to swim, nor care to teach, so won't try to teach their children the basics of staying afloat and making it to shore. More kids raised by grandparents not capable of some of the basics of child rearing. 

 

The flipside of that argument is that kids who can swim are more likely to sneak into the water when the adults aren't around.

 

I'm not claiming either side is safer.  I don't have those stats.

 

Edit:  But I'd add that there are a lot of places where the water is easy to get in, and impossible to get out on a steep, slippery bank.  (Or a dock with no ladder.) Kids don't have that kind of judgment yet, even if they can swim.

 

[fredwiggy]

10 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

The flipside of that argument is that kids who can swim are more likely to sneak into the water when the adults aren't around.

 

I'm not claiming either side is safer.  I don't have those stats.

 

Edit:  But I'd add that there are a lot of places where the water is easy to get in, and impossible to get out on a steep, slippery bank.  (Or a dock with no ladder.) Kids don't have that kind of judgment yet, even if they can swim.

 

True but knowing how to swim has you able to reach the shore where you can wait for help, as I know about these ponds here, right in my backyard is one with mud sides where a child would have a hard time getting out of the pond, but at least above the water. Kids drown all over, but here it's an epidemic because of the lack of care enough to teach basics. 

[impulse]

23 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Kids drown all over, but here it's an epidemic because of the lack of care enough to teach basics. 

 

Some parent won't teach their kids to swim because they're afraid their kids would sneak into the water and drown.  They'd rather the kids have a healthy fear of the water.  Even if they reach the steep, slippery shore (or a ladderless dock) they can only tread water for a limited time.  They're just kids.

 

Given that there are 2 different doctrines, is it really fair to contend that it's lack of care?  Or is that just Thai bashing? 

 

Personally, I'd teach mine to swim, then put the fear of God into them to stay away from the water when there's no adults.  But I wouldn't dream of accusing any parent on the other side of "not caring".

 

[Liverpool Lou]

29 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Kids drown all over, but here it's an epidemic because of the lack of care enough to teach basics. 

Garbage, children drowning is not an epidemic here.

[fredwiggy]

28 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Some parent won't teach their kids to swim because they're afraid their kids would sneak into the water and drown.  They'd rather the kids have a healthy fear of the water.  Even if they reach the steep, slippery shore (or a ladderless dock) they can only tread water for a limited time.  They're just kids.

 

Given that there are 2 different doctrines, is it really fair to contend that it's lack of care?  Or is that just Thai bashing? 

 

Personally, I'd teach mine to swim, then put the fear of God into them to stay away from the water when there's no adults.  But I wouldn't dream of accusing any parent on the other side of "not caring".

 

It isn't Thai bashing to point out what is. More kids, and adults, drown here than a lot of countries. Thailand is actually 22 out of 183 countries. If they really cared, they would make laws regarding driving were enforced, along with having students sit on top of buses to school. You teach your kids to swim as young as possible so if they get near water they don't panic. You don't fear but respect water. A person can float for a very long time once they're taught. ................https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/drownings/by-country/

[fredwiggy]

23 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Garbage, children drowning is not an epidemic here.

Try looking it up and watching the daily news, along with stats.............https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/drownings/by-country/

[Liverpool Lou]

1 minute ago, fredwiggy said:

25 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Garbage, children drowning is not an epidemic here.

Try looking it up and watching the daily news, along with stats.............https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/drownings/by-country/

Thanks for those stats that confirm that childrens' drownings are not "an epidemic" here.

[fredwiggy]

10 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Thanks for those stats that confirm that childrens' drownings are not "an epidemic" here.

Why do you come here? Just to troll and nit pick others replies to satisfy YOUR agenda? Drownings here, of both adults and children, is very high yearly, as the link shows. There is a  reason for this. Not teaching your kids to swim is the reason. 3-4 daily and over 1300 a year, children alone.

[BangkokReady]

On 6/2/2025 at 3:27 AM, Georgealbert said:

Mrs Ratri, aged 56, the grandmother of the twin sisters, said she had raised them since they were one month old. The girls were described as well-behaved, studious, and responsible. “They always helped with house chores and arranged their shoes neatly,” she said through tears.

 

That's so sad.  She must have really cared for the...

 

On 6/2/2025 at 3:27 AM, Georgealbert said:

“I had hoped they would help care for me in old age.”

 

Oh...

[BangkokReady]

3 hours ago, fredwiggy said:

Why do you come here? Just to troll and nit pick others replies to satisfy YOUR agenda?

 

No agenda.  Literally just the first bit.

[NickyLouie]

RIP , may God watch over their young souls ......

[richard_smith237]

This is so tragic, yet another series of wholly avoidable deaths. 

 

Drowning is the leading cause of death of children Thailand.

 

Water Safety 'could' so easily be taught in schools...   even without swimming lessons, just teaching kids awareness of the the risks of these ponds... 

 

5 hours ago, impulse said:

Edit:  But I'd add that there are a lot of places where the water is easy to get in, and impossible to get out on a steep, slippery bank.  (Or a dock with no ladder.) Kids don't have that kind of judgment yet, even if they can swim.

 

As you pointed out, a lot of these ponds have steep slick sides and can't be climbed out of - Its not hard to put a rope across the diagonal of a pond and a ladder laying up the side...  if a kid falls / slips in, at least they can hold on to something...