NONG PRUE, CHONBURI: Rescue workers recovered a foreign man’s body from a canal behind an old power plant in Nongprue on Sunday evening, three days after a South Korean man was swept away while walking through floodwater near a bridge in East Pattaya during heavy storms.
The Sawang Boriboon Thammasathan Pattaya Rescue Center received a public report at 6:06 p.m. on September 27th that a body was floating in mid-canal in Moo 6, beside the old power plant inside Soi Siam Country Club. Officers coordinated with Pol. Col. Nattaphon Phong Suksakul, superintendent of Nong Prue Police Station, Pattaya Tourist Police, Chonburi Immigration, district officials, and an on-duty doctor from Pattaya Patthamakun Hospital.
The canal at the scene is overgrown and runs near a banana plantation behind the former power plant. Rescuers found a man lying face-down, bloated and emitting a strong odor. His clothing resembled that seen in CCTV of the South Korean man who fell from the approach to the Khlong Ta Yai bridge three days earlier. Volunteers brought the body to the bank.
Oliver, 25, an angler who found the remains, told police he had gone to fish and was looking for a spot to cast when he saw a human body face-down in the middle of the waterway. He said the condition and smell led him to believe it was the man swept away three days earlier that he had seen in the news, so he alerted authorities.
Nongprue investigators, tourist police and immigration officers photographed the scene. The body was sent for autopsy and identification to determine whether it is the missing Korean tourist and to allow relatives to claim it for funeral rites.
How the man disappeared
Around 5 a.m. on September 24th, three foreign men, later identified by police and the landlord of their rental as South Koreans, were walking through floodwater in Soi Nern Plub Wan. One fell into Khlong Ta Yai at the bridge and was carried off by a strong current. CCTV showed two men pulled toward the drain; one reached the bank, the other vanished. The two survivors left the scene. Police have been trying to find them as we reported here as the men later oddly fled their rental property versus file police reports and ask for help from rescue teams. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
Investigators later searched the rental house about one kilometre away at 73/53 Soi Phatthanakan 2, Moo 6. The landlord said three South Korean men signed a one-year lease and moved in on September 12th. Officers found wet clothing matching CCTV images of the two companions, household items, and three relatively new computer sets. Authorities have not confirmed any criminal link to the equipment. The two companions appear to have left the Pattaya area.
A ride-hailing driver told police she had picked the three men up from Walking Street in South Pattaya and was heading toward Soi Wat Boonsampan 9 when flooding forced a route change and the men chose to walk the remainder of the distance home.
Chonburi Governor Naris Niramaiwong visited the canal on September 24th as more than 50 rescuers searched more than three kilometres of waterway, including drainage tunnels and a deep section, without finding the missing man that day.
Floods across Banglamung and Pattaya
The disappearance happened during intense overnight rain on September 23–24 that flooded major roads in Pattaya and Banglamung. Water covered Pattaya Soi 2 and 3, Soi Buakhao, Sukhumvit Road and railway-side streets. Motorcycles stalled, small cars were inundated, and tourists waded along Walking Street. City officials said drainage can normally handle about 60–70 millimetres of rain a day; more than 100 millimetres overnight overwhelmed several areas.
By September 26th, the Banglamung Canal had overflowed. Residents in three communities described the inundation as the worst in 30 years as we reported here. Water reached about 1.5 metres in places and about one metre on roads. Affected areas included Tha Kradan (Moo 4, about 50 homes), Nong Sadao (Moo 8, about 20 homes) and Ban Thung Krad–Nong Manao (Moo 8, about 115 homes). Rescue boats evacuated elderly residents and patients. High tide pushed water back into the drainage system. Rain continued through the weekend, with forecasts of heavy to very heavy rain into September 27th. Similar flooding hit parts of Rayong and prompted Bangkok to declare all 50 districts public disaster zones.
Authorities urged people not to walk through flooded canals or hidden drains. Fast currents and covered bridge approaches make the risk hard to see, especially at night or in the early morning.
Fatal drownings of foreign visitors have been reported in Pattaya waters several times this year, though most involved the sea or pools rather than inland canals.
On May 25th, 2026, the body of a man believed to be a South Korean tourist, estimated around 50, was found floating face-down in the sea north of Koh Sak near Koh Larn, about six nautical miles off Pattaya. He wore a white polo with black trim and green shorts. A wallet with a South Korean driver’s licence, ATM cards and a hotel key was recovered. There were no obvious external injuries. The body went to the Police Hospital in Bangkok for autopsy.
On April 24th, 2026, 21-year-old Chinese tourist Shao Yihao was found unconscious in a luxury Jomtien condominium pool after apparently entering after hours. CPR failed. He had arrived that day.
On April 21st, 2026, 62-year-old British man Gerald Horace Crawford drowned off Pattaya Beach after allegedly drinking heavily. A jet-ski operator said he had warned the man to leave the water. Rescuers pulled him ashore but he was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Other cases include a Russian woman found face-down near Beach Road Soi 3 in December 2024 and a foreign man in swimming trunks recovered off Jomtien in January 2025. Alcohol, night swimming, and entering water after dark or after hours are recurring factors in official accounts.
The canal death is unusual because it happened inland during flash flooding rather than at the beach. Identification of Sunday’s body is pending autopsy. Police continue to seek the two companions and to confirm the deceased man’s identity so his family can be notified.