The Thai Consulate General Office in Los Angeles wrote on its Facebook page that it received this information from the Fresno Sheriff’s Office, which is in charge of the recovery operation because the accident took place under its jurisdiction.

Thiwadee Sangsuriyarit, 24, and Bhakapon Chairatanatongporn, 28, were on their way to Kings Canyon National Park when their car skidded off a cliff and fell into the middle of Kings river.

The accident took place on July 26, but the retrieval of their bodies and the car has been delayed time and again by the US authorities, who have blamed bad weather and strong river currents that could put rescue teams at risk.

The students’ families, who flew to the scene, and Thai communities in the US have criticised the sheriff’s office for failing to retrieve the bodies. Some critics claimed that the sheriff’s office did not want to recover the bodies because the victims were Asians not Americans.

“The sheriff’s office has monitored the situation since last week and over the past weekend, and found that the situation is getting better slowly. It is estimated that the recovery operation may be able to take place around this Thursday to Saturday,” the consulate office’s Facebook post read.

The sheriff’s office has to check the level of water flow and use a helicopter to survey the to determine if the recovery team can work safely and efficiently.

The sheriff’s office has said that the recovery operation might occur if water flow in the river is below 400 cubic feet per second. The consulate reported that the flow level at midnight on Sunday was 400.