KHON KAEN — 2 July 2026, A heavily intoxicated man was rescued after climbing into a 500-litre water tank and falling asleep inside in Khon Kaen, police said.
Police were alerted at 11:30 after residents reported finding a man inside a water tank in an alley off Phimphasut Road in Khon Kaen municipality.
When officers and rescue workers arrived, they found the unidentified man standing upright inside the tank with only his head above the rim. He was unresponsive despite repeated attempts to wake him.
Rescuers drained the water from the tank before carefully tipping it onto its side to pull the man out safely.
After regaining consciousness, the man walked to the roadside and rode away on his motorcycle. There is no report explaining why no officers stopped him from doing so, despite the fact that he was clearly intoxicated.
A local resident, Montakarn Buathong, 44, said workers behind her home discovered the man inside the tank and initially feared he had died because he was motionless.
She said the man later told rescuers he had been drinking heavily before parking his motorcycle near the alley. He then climbed over a fence, opened the tank’s lid and got inside to sleep.
Residents said he was fortunate to survive, noting that if he had lost his balance and fallen into the water inside the tank, he could have drowned.