Another missing expat man found safe after being lost in forest

For the second time in as many days, an older expat man has been found after being lost in a forest for a few days. Yesterday a British man in Khon Kaen was found after being lost 3 days in a forest when he wandered off his motorbike for a stroll and couldn’t find his way back. Now today in Petchaburi, a Dutch national who went missing on August 31 was found alive in a Tha Yang district forest reserve after 4 days there.

79 year old Francis Kas van Rossum had been having a beer on Tuesday and then drove off on his motorbike, according to his 61 year old Thai wife. He was last seen on that motorbike near the Khao Noi Monastery in Ban Khong Ta Bang and he was last heard from by phone on Thursday morning. His wife received a phone call from the missing man during which he told her that he was lost in the Tha Yang forest.

Neither the Dutchman nor his wife commented on the details leading up to the man wandering off and becoming lost in the forest. Shortly after his phone call Thursday, his mobile battery died and he was unable to contact anyone or find his way back to civilisation. The Tha Yang Tourist Police used the phone call to narrow down the man’s location to about a 20-kilometre area.

About 30 officers from the Phetchaburi Provincial Investigation Division which oversees the tourist police joined the search for the missing man, but in the end, it was local villagers who first located his motorbike parked in the forest, and then later stumbled onto Francis himself. He was found around 11 pm last night, sleeping in a puddle in the thickly wooded area.

The expat was found only 700 metres from a city road in the Huai Mae Phiang sub-district of Tha Yang. The local villagers who found the man lying in the puddle immediately alerted rescue services who came to assist.

Francis was said to be in relatively good condition, though he suffered from exhaustion, mosquito bites, and some scratches on his body. He was taken to be reunited with his family at the Tha Mai Ruak Police Station and to the hospital for an examination. He was found to be ok and send home to his family to recover.

SOURCE: The Pattaya News