Police call in drowning witness
POLICE are due to interview a man today who jumped off a commuter boat in Bangkok’s Saen Saeb canal shortly before a second man attempted to leap off the vessel but fell and drowned.
On Thursday at about 6am, tour bus driver Theerapong Silarit, 50, jumped off the commuter boat and fell into the canal at Nanachat Pier. His body was recovered hours later.
Makkasan Police Station deputy superintendent, Lt-Colonel Seubpong Karuna, said yesterday that the man who successfully leapt from the vessel had been summoned and promised to meet officers today.
Seubpong said police have not filed charges against anyone including the boat’s driver Wichien Thamsamer, 38, and the boat’s conductor Pornchai Saeyang, 35.
He said police would interview more witnesses and await the autopsy results on the deceased man.
Police will ask the man who jumped off the boat if he was warned by the boat driver or the conductor not to do so.
Several accidents have hit Saen Saeb canal boats, which were |operated by Family Transport (2002) Co.
On March 5, Theerapong sustained a slight injury when a commuter boat owned by the |same firm caught fire at the Wat Thep Leela Pier.
The boat driver and conductor could be charged under the Criminal Code’s Article 291 for |negligence causing death, punishable by up to 10 years in jail and/or a Bt20,000 fine. The driver could face the additional charge of |violating the Navigation in Thai Waters Act.
