Following the 10pm report of the body’s discovery, police and rescue workers found and successfully retrieved the lifeless bodies of Praderm Khongprapan, 48, and a 12-year-old boy identified only as Der from the bottom of the mid-rice field well located 500 metres away from a village.

Officers suspected that the boy might have climbed down into the well for some reason and Praderm went down to rescue him. It appears that both died from suffocation due to a lack of oxygen at the bottom of the well. The two bodies were sent for autopsy at the Khlong Khlung Hospital to determine the cause of death.

Praderm’s niece, Kesalin Tatip, 36, told police that she went looking for the duo, who were hired to rear free-range ducks in the area, to serve them dinner. Initially unable to find them, Kesalin looked into the well and saw them lying dead inside. She alerted the village headman and then authorities to retrieve their bodies.