Commander dies in navy triathlon

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Cmdr. Sompan Meethong suffered a heart attack and drowned while swimming the 1.5-kilometer stage of the inaugural Royal Thai Navy Triathlon.
Cmdr. Sompan Meethong suffered a heart attack and drowned while swimming the 1.5-kilometer stage of the inaugural Royal Thai Navy Triathlon.

A training commander participating in the inaugural Royal Thai Navy Triathlon suffered a heart attack and drowned while swimming the 1.5-kilometer stage.

Cmdr. Sompan Meethong, 56, head of the 1st Training Battalion at the Air and Coastal Defense Command, succumbed in the first of the three-stage “Olympic Triathlon” which also called for him to cycle 40 kilometers and run 10 kilometers.

Navy commander-in-chief Adm. Luechai Ruddit expressed his condolences over the commander’s death, adding that Sompan had passed a pre-event physical fine.

Luechai said the five-part triathlon series would continue through Mother’s Day.