Investigators at Makkasan Police Station persevered in locating relatives until they confirmed the identity of the eighth victim of the train-bus collision. It was found that previously a friend had posted a missing person alert on social media regarding this individual.
The collision between a train and a public bus at the Asoke-Phetchaburi railway crossing provided a crucial lead that police used to verify the identity of the eighth victim, who had no relatives contacting authorities to claim the body.
On 25 May 2026, Police Colonel Kamphon Rattanaprateep, Commander of Metropolitan Police Division 1, held a meeting with investigators from Makkasan Police Station to set the investigative framework and discuss progress on the train-bus collision case at the Asoke-Phetchaburi crossing. The report stated that three nearby eyewitnesses were scheduled to provide additional information to the police.
Regarding the identification of the eighth victim, who had no relatives, Police Lieutenant Jaruphat Buakaew, Deputy Investigation Officer at Makkasan Police Station, conducted social media inquiries. He learned that a coworker of Mr. Sermlap Pintong, the eighth victim, had reached out seeking assistance in locating him. Earlier, the coworker had posted a missing person notice on social media after Mr. Sermlap was out of contact since 16 May 2026. On that day, it was known that he had taken the bus line involved in the accident at a time close to when the collision occurred.
Police compared images of passengers from CCTV footage provided by the coworker with social media photos posted by Ms. Wipharak, which showed a man wearing the same shoes, bag, and pants as seen in the CCTV footage during the bus ride at the accident time. They concluded it was the same person. They then searched for the missing person's family to request DNA testing but found Mr. Sermlap's immediate family members had already passed away. No DNA samples were available in the social security system either. Police collected items from Mr. Sermlap’s residence for DNA comparison and investigated paternal and male relatives via the civil registration system.
Eventually, a cousin of Mr. Sermlap was located. Contact was difficult because the relative doubted the caller was a real police officer and claimed to be busy with work. However, police persisted and were able to invite Mr. Phairat to undergo DNA testing at the Police Hospital's forensic department. The results confirmed the deceased was indeed Mr. Sermlap.
After receiving the DNA results, Police Lieutenant Jaruphat coordinated with the family to arrange for them to claim the body and proceed with religious funeral rites.