A search team comprising over a hundred men have been scouting along the river and both banks in boats and on foot, from the sunken boat in front of Wat Sanamchai temple down to Bang Pa-in and Bang Sai, 30 kilometers away.
But by late morning Tuesday, they had not yet found the missing three persons. They were identified as Mrs Thongbai Kantharalak, 89, and two boys, Apinan Sangkam, 2, and Apilak Boonyarak, 3.
On Tuesday, they recovered six bodies, some as far as over 5 kilometers from the scene, swept downstream by the swift river current.
Of the 27 victims who died from drowning at the scene and at Ayutthaya hospital, at least 20 were female, and at least 6 were male.
Others remained at hospital and needed close monitoring.
The boat driver was arrested and is facing three counts, including driving with expired license, overloading and carelessness causing injury or death.
The two-deck boat was carrying more than 100 Muslims on a holiday excursion when it sank Sunday afternoon, Sept. 18 on the Chao Phraya River 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Bangkok. The boat evidently ran up a riverbank then took on water, sinking in less than two minutes just a few meters offshore.
A Harbor Department official, Surasak Sansombat, was quoted earlier by ThaiPBS television as saying that the boat’s listed capacity was 50 passengers and it probably capsized from overloading.
“Many passengers tried to jump out of the boat and scrambled toward the shore, which was about three to five meters away,” Annop Kudeephan, a 50-year-old survivor, was quoted as saying.
The police are considering charges against the boat owner as the boat has no insurance coverage for passengers.
The Marine Department attempted to salvage the sunken boat Tuesday, fearing the bodies of the missing victims might be underneath the boat.
