[Southern Thailand Flood] 80-Year-Old Woman Drowns, Body Stored in Floating Refrigerator During Rescue

Hat Yai, Thailand, has been hit by severe flooding; an 80-year-old woman sadly drowned, and her daughter could only keep her mother’s body preserved in a floating refrigerator. The incident, once revealed, drew sympathy and attention from netizens.

According to the Bangkok Post, a rescue worker from Phuket on Tuesday shared a video showing the heartbreaking moment when he discovered a woman with the body in the refrigerator, posting, “We came too late. She drowned. It breaks my heart.”

This tragedy occurred in Rich Village, Ban Pru District, Hat Yai County.

When rescue personnel found the woman inside the house, she was tightly holding onto a floating refrigerator, with water inside the house nearly reaching the roof. The woman told rescuers, “Late last night, the water level rose quickly. My mother couldn’t hold on any longer.”

Her 80-year-old mother, unfortunately, drowned, and the woman placed her mother’s body in the refrigerator to prevent it from being swept away by the raging water, which was about 1.8 meters deep at the time.

After the rescuers arrived, they brought the woman and her mother’s body to a safe area. Upon reaching safety, the grief-stricken woman broke down in tears and fainted.

The post quickly garnered a flood of sympathetic comments and also raised public awareness that many residents are still trapped in the rising waters and are in urgent need of help.

In floods that have struck multiple southern provinces, the lives of over 2.78 million people have been severely affected, and hundreds of thousands of households have been submerged.