Thai actress found dead in river after falling off speedboat

BANGKOK - The body of Thai actress Nida Patcharaveerapong was found floating in the Chao Phraya River on Saturday (Feb 26) afternoon. She was 37.

Thai newspaper The Bangkok Post said that she had fallen off a speedboat on Thursday night, during a pleasure cruise along the river. She had not been wearing a life jacket at the time.

A search followed her disappearance into the river, and her brother was the one to discover her body. It was located about 1 km from where she fell, near the Rama VII Bridge in Nonthaburi province, northwest of Bangkok.

Local police are still conducting investigations into her death. However, they have said that the driver of the speedboat did not have a valid licence.

The five others who were on the boat at the time of the fall — including Patcharaveerapong's personal manager — all reported to local police for questioning.

The actress's mother, Panida Sirayutthayothin, has suggested that her daughter's death may not have been accidental.

"Someone might not have been pleased Tangmo was there," she said, using Patcharaveerapong's nickname among fans.

Patcharaveerapong had made her last post on Instagram — where she has 1.5 million followers — shortly before her fall on Thursday.

"The sun (is) set to rise again," she wrote in the caption of the post, which featured shots of her enjoying a sandy beach in Phuket.

Patcharaveerapong was active in Thailand's entertainment industry for almost 20 years and started out as a model who appeared in beauty pageants. She recently appeared in television drama The Fallen Leaf (2019).

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/CaXEOaqPQ8O/[/embed]

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.