SOMETIMES GPS directions can lead you astray and this is what happened last night (Sept. 14) when a woman and her companion who were driving from Chachoengsao province to Chonburi to pick up a relative and then head to Chai Nat to visit another hospitalized relative ended up in a canal, Thai Rath newspaper reported.
Chachoengsao police and a volunteer unit rushed to Khlong Nakhon Nueng Khet canal, in Nam Daeng subdistrict, upon receiving radio notification of the accident. There they found the driver and her passenger, who refused to be identified but are women of around 35 to 40 years of age, standing soaking wet by the canal while their Nissan Almera sedan had sunk vertically into the water, head first.
The driver said in going to Chonburi she had cruised down Suwinthawong road and got on the expressway at Minburi.
When they reached the point of accident, the GPS system told them to go under the bridge, and believing this was the right thing to do, she did so. The ramp was very poorly lit, and together with not being familiar with the route, when she saw some water upfront, she thought it was a puddle, and stepped on the accelerator and ended in the canal.
However she said she had the sense to open the door before the power got cut off, and being able to swim, quickly got back ashore. Her passenger could not swim, so was clutching the door waiting for help.
Upon hearing her screams for help, Mr.Anon Phonmontri called his two friends, Mr. Teerayut Sasua and Mr. Ton, to rescue the accident victim. Later it took two vehicles 45 minutes to drag the sedan out of the canal.
CAPTION:
Top: Composite picture shows the three men swimming out to rescue the accident victim, left, and the sedan being dragged ashore, right. Photo: Thai Rath
