If you’ve been keeping up with today’s world, you probably know that there are conspiracy theories that try to explain why all kinds of mysteries happened.
And it’s no different for this case of a Thai actress who allegedly drowned by accident while on a speedboat trip earlier this year.
Thai Actress Drowned After Falling from Speedboat
On 24 February this year, Thai actress Nida Patcharaveerapong, more commonly known as Tangmo, was on a speedboat with five others.
The group was travelling from the Krung Thon Bridge in Bangkok to the Rama VII Bridge in Nonthaburi via the Chao Phraya river.
Tangmo, who was 34, apparently fell off the boat into the water at around 10.40pm that night.
She was sitting on the back of the boat as she needed to relieve herself. She was also not wearing a life jacket when she fell into the water.
Her manager saw her fall into the water and shouted for help.
Following her fall into the water, rescuers reached the scene at around midnight to try and search for the actress, but the search proved to be difficult due to the strong currents and minimal light present at that point in time.
After a 38-hour search, Tangmo’s body was found and her older brother confirmed that the body belonged to his younger sister.
It was later announced that Tangmo had died by drowning.
A deep cut measuring around 30cm was also found on her leg, and forensic experts said that it could have cut a major artery and prevented Tangmo from trying to save herself in the water.
Although it has been speculated that the cut was caused by the boat’s propeller, this fact was not confirmed by the experts.
Conflicting Opinions Regarding How Tangmo Died
Since her body was found, netizens have been coming up with a variety of reasons behind how Tangmo could have possibly died.
Despite the authorities’ announcement that Tangmo’s drowning was an accident, some have speculated that the actress’ death was more than just that.
And recently, a video that has been circulating around the Internet might provide some answers.
Video Showed Tangmo Apparently Calling for Help
Recently, a video taken by an eyewitness was uploaded to social media, with the eyewitness claiming that they took the video at that point in time just because the boat’s lights that reflected on the water surface looked aesthetically pleasing.
However, the eyewitness then said that they found something absurd about the video upon rewatching it after the incident.
Apparently, the video recorded a female voice calling out for help, with many other netizens agreeing that they heard it in the video as well.
Some even said that the lady’s voice sounded extremely similar to Tangmo’s.
There were also netizens who claimed to have heard other sounds, such as the lady saying things such as “Let go of me” in the clip as well.
Video Captured People on Boat Arguing Whether to Save Her; Later Revealed that Tangmo Got into Conflict With Boat Owner
Upon zooming in on the video, netizens also found a man and a woman who appeared to be arguing on the speedboat, with another man appearing to try and help resolve the conflict afterwards.
After the video went viral, Tangmo’s manager, Gattick, revealed that Tangmo indeed got into an argument with Bo, the owner of the speedboat. The pair got into a heated argument, with vulgarities being spewed at each other.
However, Gattick still insisted that Tangmo had fallen into the water by herself when trying to relieve herself at the back of the boat.
Photo of Tangmo’s Body Circulated Around Social Media
Apart from the video, a photo that allegedly features Tangmo’s body after it was found by rescuers has been making its way across social media sites as well.
According to netizens, one of Tangmo’s eyes was closed while the other was open. The eyeball of the eye that was open was apparently bulging out of the eye.
There were also red patches of skin around her eye, with the skin looking similar to the skin that one would have after having a layer of skin get burned off.
Her entire face was swollen and had turned dark, and her tongue was sticking out as well. However, the rest of her body did not have this darkened tone to it, raising confusion amongst netizens.
Additionally, there was also a large patch of reddish skin observed around Tangmo’s neck. The blood vessels from her collarbone to shoulder were also noticeably black in colour.
As for Tangmo’s hands, the nails on her right hand were broken and she had her hand balled in a fist as well.
There was sand in her hand, prompting netizens to speculate that she had been trying to grab hold of something before she drowned.
Sand was also found in her windpipe, lungs and even stomach, prompting even more speculation regarding how Tangmo died since it was unusual for sand to be ingested all the way to the stomach even if it was inhaled.
Rescuer’s Recount
During the rescue mission, fellow Thai actor Ekkapun Bunluerit was one of the volunteer rescuers. He was also allegedly part of the first group of people who got to see Tangmo’s body.
According to him, she had sustained injuries near her right eye.
When investigators opened up her mouth, they also found out that several of her teeth were broken, suggesting that her head could have collided or been hit by a hard object.
Possibility of Rope Being Involved in Incident
Well-known Thai surgeon Dr Tavatchai also voiced his opinions on the matter.
Even though the police confirmed that the streaks found on Tangmo’s neck and legs were injuries caused by the speedboat’s propeller, the surgeon speculated that a rope could have been involved in the incident.
In particular, he believed that Tangmo could have been restrained by the rope.
He also found that the injuries sustained by other victims who were restrained by ropes were also largely similar, further supporting his point.
Thereafter, the speculations regarding a rope being involved in Tangmo’s death continued to spread, especially since rescuers were seen holding a photo of a rope on the day when Tangmo’s body was found.
Tangmo’s Bleeding Head and Police’s Statement Raised Further Queries
However, the speculations didn’t just spot there.
When Tangmo’s death was first retrieved from the water, photos of her head still pouring with fresh blood were taken. Blood clots on her clothing were also captured in the photos.
Photos also showed that there was a long nail that had pierced through Tangmo’s foot.
Despite the photos, the Thai police later confirmed that Tangmo did not sustain any injuries to her head and that most of her injuries were on her legs, leaving netizens even more confused about how the photos of Tangmo came about.
The blood clots on Tangmo’s clothing also led to Dr Tavatchai’s speculation that Tangmo could have been murdered before she drowned.
Surgeon Carried out Experiment
Dr Tavatchai’s suspicions led to him carrying out an experiment with human blood to see under what circumstances would blood end up clotting.
After retrieving fresh human blood, he dripped them into three different bowls.
One bowl had water similar to that of the Chao Phraya river, while another had water similar to seawater.
For these two bowls of water, he submerged a white cloth in them first before adding the blood.
As for the third bowl, he dripped the blood onto the white cloth first before pouring freshwater into it.
After carrying out the experiment, he found out that the white cloth would only turn pale pink after coming into contact with the blood for the first two bowls.
However, for the third bowl, the white cloth ended up having a darker stain, and blood clots were formed as well, proving the surgeon’s point that Tangmo might have been attacked and bled before drowning in the river.
Other People Who Were on the Boat
Aside from the new speculations and opinions that have emerged, the spotlight was also recently cast on the other five people who were on the boat with Tangmo.
In particular, even though the police still confirmed that Tangmo’s death was not a murder, all five people who were on the boat with Tangmo were charged with recklessness.
Apart from recklessness, the five suspects were also charged with other crimes such as driving a boat without a licence, littering in the river and aiding others in destroying evidence related to the crime.
Additionally, two of the people were accused of giving false statements to the police as well, with one of them being Gattick, Tangmo’s manager.
Initially, Gattick said that Tangmo was not wearing a life jacket when she drowned since she wanted to take nice photos of herself, and added that Tangmo could not swim.
However, Tangmo’s mother soon refuted this claim by saying that her daughter was a good swimmer.
Further suspicions on Gattick were also cast by Tangmo’s personal assistant, who did not take the boat trip together with Tangmo.
Featured Image: The Internet