Canadian tourist dies in single-vehicle accident, friend severely injured

PHUKET: A young Canadian woman faces months of rehabilitation and huge hospital bills after being severely injured in a single-vehicle accident that claimed her friend’s life in Phuket last week, the Vancouver Sun reported yesterday.

Nezabravka (Nezi) Borislavova, 24, from Vancouver, suffered internal injuries, two broken shoulders, a broken arm and broken wrist, according to her family friend Patrick Parenteau. Ms Borislavova’s friend Ali Lambert, a 22-year-old also from Vancouver, died in the accident.

“I think she’s out of trouble as far as life-threatening [sic] goes,” Mr Parenteau said. “She’s in bad shape, but she should live.”

Ms Lambert had been travelling for months, first through Europe and then Vietnam. Ms Borislavova joined her and, after touring Thailand, the two planned to eventually head to New Caledonia and then on to Australia.

The girls were starting out from Phuket for Bangkok in a jeep that they had rented, when it began to rain, said Doug Lambert, Ali Lambert’s father. From what he understands, the jeep skidded on the slick road, hit a pole, then rolled down an embankment soon after crossing the Sarasin Bridge.

“I’m still waiting for details, but I believe Ali was non-responsive at the scene,” said Mr Lambert.

Ms Borislavova was taken to one hospital before being transferred to another. She reportedly had no travel insurance.

Mr Parenteau has started a GoFundMe page to help with hospital and travel bills, which, until this afternoon, had raised just over US$28,850 in less than three days.

“Ms Borislavova had two operations last night to mend bones and repair internal injuries,” said Mr Parenteau on Sunday. “The details are kind of iffy [sic], but she may be able to travel with some precautions in eight or 10 days, but not, of course, until the hospital bills get paid.”

Mr Parenteau is aiming to raise US$50,000, of which $US15,000 is already earmarked for the first hospital to which Ms Borislavova was taken, the Vancouver Sun reports.

Although a photo of the young women shows them unbuckled, both were strapped into their seat belts when the accident happened, Mr Parenteau said.

Ms Lambert’s last posts on her Facebook page were from Phuket’s Karon district.

She enthused about the street food in Thailand being as good as it had been in Vietnam, adding “I’m so happy here, too!”

“This is an awful story,” Mr Lambert said, “but I guess [some] good [getting Ms Borislavova home] can come out of it, and if there is [some] good in it, we want to make sure we find it.”

— Sahar Aftab Paliwala