SAMUT PRAKAN: Police are hoping to put a name to a human head found floating beside a pier in the Chao Phraya River in Phra Pradaeng district on Wednesday evening.
The unidentified severed head has long, receding hair but the facial features are bloated so the gender is not known.
It was found floating in the river at Phra Pradaeng pier in tambon Bang Yaphraek about 6pm, police said.
A fishing net was used to lift the head up onto the pier.
There were signs of cuts from the left eye down to the neck and a wound about 2 inches deep in the middle of the forehead. It was believed to have been in the river for 3-4 days.
Local residents told police the face was not familiar to them. The head was sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for examination.
Subin Seesuddee, 31, from Bung Kan province first saw the head.
He and his friends were fishing from the pier on Wednesday evening when an unusual object floating in the river caught his attention.
Initially, he thought it was a doll, but his friends said it looked like a human head. He used his fishing net to lift it out of the water for a closer look, and was shocked to see his friends were right.
So far, police have not been able to confirm if the head is male or female. It was also unclear whether the head had been deliberately severed from the body and dumped in the river, or had been accidentally cut off by a ship's propeller.
Phra Pradaeng investigators were checking with police stations in nearby areas whether any recent missing person reports had been filed, hoping to get a lead they could follow up.
