Search for sunken river tug, missing crewThe overturned tugboat in the Chao Phraya River in front of Wat Phanan Choeng Voraviharn in Ayutthaya province on Wednesday morning. (Photo: Sunthorn Pongpao)A sonar scanner was being used in the search on Thursday for a barge tug that overturned and sank in the deep and muddy Chao Phraya River on Wednesday, trapping the husband-and-wife crew inside the vessel. The boat went down in fast-flowing water about 20 metres deep while manoeuvring with five laden barges near a pier in Nakhon Luang district of Ayutthaya province. Representatives from the Marine Department, the navy and the Ayutthaya marine office drew up a search plan that used side scanning sonar to locate the sunken tug. The tug driver, Somchai Tharnkul, 60, and his wife Naruemol Tharnkul have not been seen since their barge tug sank in the Chao Phraya River opposite Wat Phanan Choeng Voraviharn in Ayutthaya province late on Wednesday morning.
