Krabi mud-rescue hero to receive royal honour
A THAI MAN whose heroic rescue of two stuck-in-the-mud birdwatchers went viral will receive the biggest honour of his life this week.
When the video of him saving the Norwegian tourist and her husband from a riverbank in Krabi was posted on Facebook, Chat Ubonjinda, 44, gained instant fame.
Before the fisherman and foundation piler receives a “Seu Samart” (honorary jacket) from HRH Princess Bajra Kitiyabha in a ceremony in Bangkok on Friday, he was presented with a plaque of honour and a jacket from Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattana-vrangkul at Government House yesterday.
The minister, acting on behalf of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, listened attentively to Chat’s story of how he freed the couple from the mud.
She praised his selfless act as a model representation of the country’s people.
She thanked the person who took the video of Chat as such images create a good feeling towards Thais and the country. People would feel Thais are kind and this would attract more visitors to the country.
Krabi Governor Pinit Boonlert ordered a 5-by-20-metre billboard with a huge portrait of Chat put up in front of the provincial airport in Nua |Khlong district to praise Chat’s deed.
Theerasak Saksritawee, a businessman from Phuket, said he was taking pictures of |birds when he noticed Chat reaching out to the stranded tourists.
“So I recorded his good deed and posted it on social media. After the posting, views went past 100,000 in just a matter of hours,” he said.
Chat came across the tourists and extricated them from knee-deep mud while riding his boat to go fishing in Krabi River.
According to the video first posted on Theerasak’s Facebook page, Chat let the couple step on him to get out of the mud, then left right afterwards on his |boat.
