Remind me not to be "rescued" in Thailand.

TRAT: Two rescue workers and an injured man they were carrying died when their rescue vehicle struck a concrete pole and plunged into a reservoir in Muang district on Saturday morning.

The fatal crash occurred at the See Siad reservoir in tambon Wang Krachae, said Pol Capt Lerdsak Rattanapitak, a duty officer at the Muang police station, who was alerted around 6 am.

Police, a hospital doctor and rescue workers who rushed to the scene found a pickup truck with Trat licence plates in the reservoir of a tap water plant. Before the officers arrived, people who had been exercising in the area and local residents helped retrieve the driver from the vehicle. He was given first aid and sent to Trat Hospital where he died of his injuries.

When the rescue team arrived, they dived into the water and retrieved a second rescue worker and an injured man, who had been trapped in the back of the pickup. However, the men had no pulses and rescuers were unable to revive them.

The dead were identified as driver and rescue worker Seksan Sithao, 19; rescue worker Seksarn Sawadthap, 17; and Phanat Nitramorn, 56, a legal official with the Trat public health office. Phanat had sustained injuries while bicycling before the rescue vehicle arrived to pick him up.

Witness Sompot Boonnum, who was exercising near the reservoir, told police that he saw the pickup leaving the area at normal speed before the driver lost control, causing the vehicle to hit a roadside pole and a tree and then plunge into the water.

Police are investigating further to find the exact cause of the incident.
Three die in rescue vehicle crash