A grandmother wept inconsolably as two siblings, aged 8 and 9, drowned after swimming out to retrieve a helmet from the middle of a pond behind their village, disappearing before their friends' eyes in Chachoengsao.
At 17:00 on 11 May 2026, Police Lieutenant Chonmanat Riyapa, Deputy Investigator at Mueang Chachoengsao Police Station, received a report of two children drowning in a pond behind a village in Tha Khai Subdistrict, Mueang District, Chachoengsao Province. He coordinated with forensic doctors from Buddhachoth Hospital and rescue teams from Chachoengsao to investigate.
At the scene, the bodies of Master Suphanat Thuptienthong, known as Nong Nat, 9 years old, and Miss Suphachaya Thuptienthong, known as Nong Gus, 8 years old, siblings, were found lying on a dirt embankment, wet from water. Previously, rescue workers and police had recovered their bodies from a pond more than 2 meters deep.
Mr. Phairoj Boonhiran, head of the Chachoengsao rescue team, said the pond is over 2 meters deep and they used poles to probe before gradually diving to search. The first body found was Nong Nat, who had started to float up from the pond bottom, while Nong Gus was found about 3 meters away, still at the bottom.
Police Corporal Thanawat Suthewi, a traffic officer at Mueang Chachoengsao Police Station, said he was about to ride his motorcycle home when he saw a rescue vehicle rushing to an incident. Upon inquiry, he learned it was a child drowning case. He quickly followed to assist and upon arrival, learned two children had drowned, so he immediately jumped into the water to help search, hoping to save them.
A 6-year-old boy, a friend who was present, recounted that they had been playing in the water with the two children since morning. They played on a slide on the dirt embankment by the shallow edge of the pond. Then they saw a helmet floating in the middle of the pond, so they swam out together to retrieve it. The two siblings then disappeared underwater. Being a good swimmer, he quickly swam back to shore and waited, puzzled why his friends did not resurface, until adults came looking and he told them the two were still in the pond.
Ms. Suthathip Thuptienthong, 34, the children's aunt, revealed that the two children were under her and their grandmother’s care, as their parents separated when they were young. She said they usually forbade and scolded the children for playing in the water here. She and the grandmother had left early for work and did not expect the grandchildren to sneak out to play in this spot again.
It was reported that when the children’s grandmother learned the news, she ran to embrace her grandchildren’s bodies and cried loudly, blaming herself for not taking better care of them. This deeply moved everyone present.
Initially, the relatives did not dispute the cause of death. Police handed over the bodies to rescue officials to proceed with religious funeral rites at Laem Tai Temple.