Bar worker feared buried after landslide at mine

LAMPANG: The state operator of Mae Moh coal mine has been digging through debris to locate a missing 25-year-old transgender who is believed to have been buried by a landslide near the mine.

Banpot Thirawas, assistant governor of Mae Moh Mine, run by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat), said heavy machinery and water pumps have been deployed to drain out water from canals to speed up the search after the family confirmed personal belongings found on Wednesday belonged to Pattiya Buangam, a karaoke bar worker who lives in the area.

The 25-year-old was reported missing on March 18, the same day a landslide occurred at a soil dumping zone in the Mae Moh lignite mine in Lampang’s Mae Moh district.

Ms Pattiya is feared to have been buried in an irrigation canal.

According to Mr Banpot, the family was allowed to observe the search.

Soil dug out from the mine over the past 20 years had been piled up in the area.

The earth at the dump site collapsed over a distance of more than one kilometre and blocked a section of a road inside the mine which was used by locals.

A conveyor belt and more than 50 concrete power posts along the road were also toppled.

The authorities had earlier dismissed the theory that Ms Pattiya might have been buried in the landslide. Her family filed a missing persons complaint with local police after they could not contact her and asked Egat to search the area.

However, Egat’s ground penetration radar could not pick up anything.

The family did not give up and took to social media to pressure police to search for Ms Pattiya at the mine.

The search intensified this week after her motorcycle and backpack were discovered by police at the site on Wednesday.