KHON KAEN: The long-suffering wait of the family of a engineer missing for the past seven years is over - with confirmation their son's remains have been found inside a car in a swamp in Chanthaburi.
Thonglor Jitthor said on Friday that everyone at home in Ban Phai district was at a loss for words after they were told that her son, Ruengrit, had been found in the eastern province.
"Everybody just cried. We were so relieved after suffering for seven years," the mother said.
A human skeleton was recently found inside a sunken car by a triathlete training in the swamp. An ID card inside the vehicle identified the man as Ruengrit Jitthor, 32.
Ruengrit had been working as an engineer at a paper factory in Prachin Buri. The car belonged to his girlfriend, a university lecturer in Chanthaburi.
Ruengrit drove from Chanthaburi to attend the wedding ceremony of his friend in Roi Et in 2011, according to his aunt, Chanthima Khonkul. He dropped by the house in Ban Phai to visit his parents. That was the last time they saw or heard from him.
Members of the family travelled between Khon Kaen and Chanthaburi almost every week hoping to find trace of him, but there was not even a single word. They registered a complaint with police at Ban Phai station in Khon Kaen and at Muang station in Chanthaburi.
Mrs Thonglor said she and her husband tried every means to find their son, checking his office and apartment, and even consulted a dozen fortune tellers over a year before they agreed to give up. "We just hoped that one day our son would come back," she said.
Police said it was possible Ruengrit committed suicide. His girlfriend told police that he was stressed out from work.
Bottles of pesticide were found in the car and Mrs Chantima said Ruengsit forgot to give them to the mother's bride during the wedding ceremony in Roi Et.
Ruengrit's father and brother have verified the identity of the man found dead in the car to police in Chanthaburi and were taking the remains back home for a religious ceremony.
