Passport left in taxi return to tourist just hours before flight
In a heartwarming example of the power of kindness and the helpfulness that can occur in the Land of Smiles, a tourist who lost his passport was reunited with it on his way out of the country. On Sunday, American tourist Edward Freitas accidentally left his travel bag in a taxi in Phuket. The bag contained his passport and important credit and identification cards.
The incident took place Sunday evening when the 29 year old man caught a short taxi ride from Phuket Old Town to Bang Naew Intersection. It was around 7.30pm when he took the trip and left his bag with the passport in the taxi. He had no information about that cab and did not look at the driver’s or the car’s registration number.
Things get left in taxis throughout Thailand all the time, and some items are occasionally recovered. But this time it was urgent – his passport was gone and he had a pending flight out of the country the next day. With just a few hours left before his flight to Sydney, Australia, the American was in a state of panic. But the kindness of strangers was about to come to his rescue.
The Phuket Tourist Police sprang into action, with the help of local social media, to spread the word about the lost bag to track down the taxi driver. Miraculously, the taxi driver soon showed up at the Phuket Tourist Police Station with the lost bag and passport, ready to return the important items to their rightful owner.
The American tourist expressed his gratitude to the taxi driver, the Phuket Tourist Police, and local social media for their assistance in spreading the word and helping him get his passport back. Then he raced to the airport to catch his flight to Sydney as scheduled, undoubtedly with a great sense of relief.
