USF students from Thailand believed killed in crash; figures stranded (w/movie)
Thursday, August Ten, two thousand seventeen 8:14am
FRESNO, Calif. — Rescuers are fighting to recover the bods of two students who officials say were enrolled at the University of South Florida.
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The students were in a car that crashed down a cliff two weeks ago and has become lodged in the middle of a California sea furious with snowmelt, officials said Tuesday.
California and Thai consulate officials haven’t identified the students, but Thailand’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Busadee Santipitaks told media that Thiwadee Saengsuriyarit, 24, and her masculine friend Pakkapol Chairattanasongporn, 28, also known as Golf, were driving along Highway one hundred eighty when their car went off a cliff and plunged into the Kings Sea.
Both were studying at USF and determined to take a excursion to California while on summer break, according to broadcast reports.
Lara Wade, a spokeswoman for USF, confirmed Thursday that both were studying at the university. Chairatnathrongporn enrolled in January two thousand sixteen and was working toward a master’s degree in industrial engineering. Saengsuriyarit enrolled last January and was not seeking a degree.
Both were planning to come back for the fall semester.
The students were believed to be headed to Kings Canyon National Park. A hotel where the students had been staying called police on July twenty eight to report that the pair hadn’t returned.
The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said it can’t confirm the crash victims’ identities, but it is working with the California Highway Patrol and Thai authorities to find a way to retrieve the car and bods, sheriff’s spokesman Tony Botti said in a statement.
The car went off the road seventy five miles (120 kilometers) east of Fresno in the steep Sierra Nevada mountains. It crashed five hundred feet (152 meters) below into the Kings Sea, engorged with snowmelt after a record violating winter, officials said. News footage from the scene shows a mangled guardrail at the side of a curve in the road and rushing whitewater tumbling over the crumpled wreckage of a crimson sedan.
“The water is very fast-running and the geography is inaccessible, so authorities have not been able to investigate the area where the vehicle fell,” Busadee told the Bankgkok Post.
The Fresno County Sheriff’s search and rescue team is assessing the weather and sea levels each day to come up with a plan that is safe for rescuers, Botti said.
A recovery date hasn’t been set.
The students’ relatives arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday and were taken to the scene of the accident where a monk led them in Buddhist prayer, the Thai consulate said.
The families are urging authorities to retrieve the figures, it added.
Saengsuriyarit’s sister, Thiwarat, told CBS forty seven news that the delay in recovering their loved one’s figure was “frustrating” and “heartbreaking.” She described her sister as sweet and kind.
Chairattanasongporn’s mother Supin told the station her son thanked for helping him come to probe abroad and was excited about the soccer match he’d recently attended at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
This is a developing story. Stay with tampabay.com for updates. Times staff writer Tony Marrero contributed to this report.
This Aug. Five, 2017, photo provided by the Fresno County Sheriff’s office shows a car in the middle of Kings Sea near Fresno, Calif. The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office has been working since July twenty six on a plan to eliminate the car that has two bods in it. Efforts to eliminate the car and retrieve the figures are hampered by rugged terrain. [Fresno County Sheriff’s Office via AP]
USF students from Thailand believed killed in crash; figures stranded (w/movie) 08/Ten/17 [Last modified: Thursday, August Ten, two thousand seventeen Trio:33pm]