The female director of a school was found dead in a car submerged in an irrigation canal in Tha Muang district on Saturday, police said.
Pol Capt Narong Khamsunthorn, an investigator at Tha Muang police station, said the dead woman was identified as Nipaporn Wongwilai, 45, director of Ban Nong Ya Plong School in tambon Chorakhae Phuak in Dan Makham Tia district.
Her car, a white Honda, was found submerged in the irrigation canal near Ban Nong Ko, the Moo 4 village in tambon Khao Noy of Tha Muang district..
The search by divers from a rescue unit began at about 8am on Saturday after local residents found the front bumper and licence plate No 3414 of a car, registered in Kanchanaburi, by the side of the irrigation canal. They suspected the car had slid off the road and plunged into the canal.
At about 6pm, the divers found the car in the water under Nong Ko bridge, about 500 metres from where the bumper was spotted.
Nipaporn’s body was found in the driver’s seat, the safety belt fastened.
Police and a doctor from the His Holiness the 19th Hospital soon arrived at the scene for an examination. The body was sent to the hospital for an autopsy.
According to a police investigation, on Friday night Nipaporn went to a restaurant to ensure its readiness for a seminar before driving home along the irrigation canal.
An investigation was still underway to establish the cause of the accident.
