Scuba divers find driver alive in canal after fleeing Pathum Thani police checkpoint

Police sought help from Ruamkatanyu Foundation’s scuba divers who managed to locate Anuchit Sawaengchon, 40, in just 10 minutes after they arrived at the scene. He was found clinging to a pillar of the bridge over the Klong 11 canal in Tambon Bueng Nam Rak in Pathum Thani’s Thanyaburi district.
Police at a checkpoint on the Rangsit-Nakhon Nayok road chased after Anuchit’s pickup truck after he ignored a signal to pull over and drove through the checkpoint at 11pm.
The pickup was slowed by a heavy load of construction sand and gravel, and police caught up at the bridge after a short chase, whereupon the driver jumped into the canal.
Anuchit told police he had been drinking with friends and upon seeing the checkpoint, was afraid of being arrested and so had tried to flee.