A bungling crane operator dropped a car back into the water as he and colleagues worked on a retrieval operation.

The rescuers rushed to the scene when a driver plunged with his pickup truck from a bridge into the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand on September 3.

However, while the team tried to lift the vehicle from the waterway, the crane truck tilted and the car fell again.

Footage shows the crane truck leaning to the side from the weight of the pickup truck. The driver was seen climbing down the door before his colleagues rushed to help.

Bang Kho Laem Police Station Captain Witsarut Banditkajorn said: ‘We received a report that a pickup truck had fallen into the Chao Phraya River under Rama IX Bridge.

‘We found a broken metal fence that had been hit by the pickup truck before it plunged into the river.

The team eventually retrieved the pickup truck but they recovered the driver's dead body an hour later. The driver was identified as Anuthep Taesakul, 32, from Phang Nga province.

He was found wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, without shoes along with 2,000 baht (45.13 GBP) in cash and a bottle of medicine.

His body was transported to the Department of Forensic Medicine at Siriraj Hospital for an autopsy. 

Witnesses said the pickup truck drove into the expressway construction site nearby, crashed through the metal fence, and fell into the water.

The truck floated briefly on the water before slowly sinking.

The police captain added: 'Forensic police found tyre marks on the road indicating acceleration from the rear tyres rather than braking.

'We speculate that the driver may have deliberately or intentionally crashed into the river.'