Volunteers robbed at gunpoint in Hat Yai floods, 400 families stranded

The sight of a rescue boat in Hat Yai usually signals relief. Last week it became the trigger for fear when a volunteer crew was forced at gunpoint to hand over phones, life-saving gear and even fuel. Their ordeal, filmed within a sea of floodwater, has deepened questions about why District 8, long plagued by petty crime, still flares up just when the city most needs help.

A community on edge

Residents in the Saphan Dum quarter woke up on Thursday to yet another swelling of the U-tapao Canal. Hours later the Samut Sakhon team, rushing south to ferry stranded families, drifted into what they assumed was a routine bottleneck of floating debris. Instead, the volunteers say a band of eight men stepped out from a row of submerged shop-houses, waved a pistol, and demanded everything from their pump sets to spare batteries. According to the crew, the confrontation lasted barely five minutes yet cost them more than 200,000 baht in tools they had bought with public donations. Security specialists familiar with Hat Yai note that District 8 has a reputation for opportunistic hold-ups whenever floods sever normal patrol routes. The narrow shophouse alleys create natural choke points, and when roads disappear beneath brown water, every passing boat becomes a slow-moving target.

Anatomy of the ambush

Video taken by the rescuers shows an eerily quiet avenue where metal barricades had been dragged into the current, forming what appeared to be an improvised wall. Former police commissioner Pol Maj Gen Sayan Bootri, now head of Songkhla’s disaster command, says such obstacles rarely occur by accident. He points to past incidents in 2017 and 2022 when similar barricades preceded robberies of water-borne vendors. Volunteers also stress that the suspects spoke the local southern dialect, suggesting intimate knowledge of every hidden side street. When the crew attempted to accelerate, two men brandished what looked like a .38 revolver. Another carried an iron pipe. Under torchlight the rescuers surrendered radios, iPhones, flashlights and a brand-new submersible pump. Crucially, the robbers removed the engines’ spark plugs, ensuring the boats could not follow them once they fled.

Official reaction and blame-trading

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul toured Hat Yai the morning after the clip went viral and offered a more reassuring picture. He told reporters outside the provincial hall that he had observed no armed gangs, adding that “occasional tension is normal in disaster zones”. His comment, relayed live on national television, immediately drew fire from volunteer networks who insist the threat is systemic. Songkhla governor Somnuek Promkhun, meanwhile, defended local officers, saying two platoons had already been assigned to river patrol. Within 24 hours police announced the arrest of six men for an unrelated beer theft from a railway freight car, also in District 8. Authorities say ballistic checks will determine whether the same group confronted the rescue boat, though investigators concede they recovered no firearm.

Why District 8 keeps boiling over

Urban planners note that Hat Yai’s unofficial red-line neighbourhood grew along the disused freight yards and the Khlong Rian industrial spur, an area starved of fresh investment since the 1997 financial crisis. When monsoon torrents strike, drainage pumps installed upstream push water southward, effectively turning low-lying streets into canals. Long-time residents who cannot afford to relocate rely on informal scrap trading, a cash economy notorious for attracting stolen generators and electric cable. Each surge in water becomes an invitation for theft: boats move slowly, valuables are exposed and phone signals drop. Civil-society watchdog Southern Peace Lab estimates petty crime doubles during major inundations. Yet only a fraction reaches court because proof literally drifts away with the floodwater.

Volunteers caught in the crossfire

Thailand’s rescue culture is famously decentralised. Independent foundations such as Ruang Thong, Hook 31 and the Samut Sakhon team in last week’s incident finance their own inflatable craft, helmets, and petrol through donations. They also provide essential first response in rural sub-districts where fire engines cannot pass. Many volunteers admit they seldom file police complaints because paperwork delays could strand other victims. In Hat Yai, however, that silence has arguably emboldened robbers who see little chance of swift retribution. The head of the Samut Sakhon crew, Tanawat Jintanakul, now urges fellow rescuers to register their asset lists with provincial offices before deployment so any losses trigger automatic insurance coverage.

Impact on relief operations

Within a day of the ambush, at least three Bangkok-based volunteer flotillas suspended plans to enter Songkhla. That decision left roughly 400 families in the outskirts of Ban Klong Hae and Tha Chang waiting two extra nights for dry food delivery. The provincial disaster agency tried to fill the gap with military pontoons, but soldiers lack the medical triage equipment that civilian foundations usually carry. The slowdown coincided with the first death attributed to the flood, an elderly woman who slipped on a submerged curb. Health volunteers argue that delays of even a few hours can cost lives when antivenom or oxygen tanks are stranded behind picket lines. Private donors, seeing headlines about gun-wielding gangs, reportedly diverted funds away from Hat Yai toward the less volatile Trang basin.

Steps toward safer waters

After an emergency session on Friday night, Songkhla police pledged to station two permanent river checkpoints between Chalermchai Bridge and the railway depot. Technicians from the Digital Economy Ministry are reviewing whether portable 5G repeaters could bolster live GPS tracking of rescue crews. Meanwhile, the municipal council is debating fines for anyone dragging construction material into roads during a flood. Civic leaders also urge residents to film suspicious activity from upper floors and submit footage via the @SongkhlaSafe Line account. Though the strategy hinges on community cooperation, local imams, pastors and monks have already promised to use monthly gatherings to reinforce the message that obstructing rescue craft amounts to assault.

What to watch next

Meteorologists predict more heavy rain over the southern peninsula through mid-December. If water levels rise again, District 8 will test whether new patrols and digital monitoring truly deter opportunistic thieves. For now, Samut Sakhon’s volunteers are repairing borrowed engines in a temple yard, determined to return. Their leader believes the best shield against future ambushes is visibility: a convoy of boats, brightly lit, tracked in real time, and backed by police who understand that every minute saved can mean a child pulled from an attic just before the current takes hold.