KANCHANABURI - A park ranger drowned while trying to retrieve a mobile phone a visitor dropped into the stream inside Tham Sao Hin cave in Thong Pha Phum district on Tuesday afternoon.
Tham Sao Hin and nearby Tham Nok Nang Aen cave have subsequently been temporarily closed to the public.
Paisan Wanphet, 43, volunteered to enter rain-swollen Khlong Ngu stream to recover the tourist’s valued possession about 1pm on Tuesday. He dived into the fast-flowing stream, was promptly swept away and disappeared.
As other rangers led about 120 tourists in the party out of the cave, rescuers also entered the stream, looking for the ranger and hoping to save him. They found his body about 9pm on Tuesday.
Tham Sao Hin (stone pillar cave) is a major attraction of Lam Khlong Ngu National Park in Kanchanaburi province. It is about 500 metres long with the highlight being a towering limestone pillar 62 metres high, one of the tallest in the world.
Chutidech Kamonnachanut, director of Protected Area Regional Office 3 in Ratchaburi, said divers found Paisan’s body trapped in rocks about four metres underwater.
The stream was deep and very cold at the time and the shock of entry could cause cramp, he said.
The drowned ranger's family would receive compensation of 570,000 baht in total from various funds and welfare schemes, Mr Chutidech said.
The director also said Tham Sao Hin cave would be temporarily closed to the public, together with Tham Nok Nang Aen cave (swallow cave) in the same national park, from Thursday for safety reasons.
Forecast heavy rain was likely to raise the levels of streams inside the caves, he said. They would reopen when the weather changes for the better.
Late ranger Paisan Wanphet
The limestone pillar in Tham Sao Hin (file photo)
