British man falls from waterfall cliff on Koh Samui

PHOTO: A man was rescued after falling off a waterfall cliff in Koh Samui. (via Thai PBS World)

In Koh Samui, a British man was rescued after slipping from a dangerous waterfall. The man was part of a group of eight international tourists who were holidaying on the island of Koh Samui. They had climbed to the top of Na Muang Waterfall despite warnings not to when the man fell off the cliff.

The group of hikers said that they did not see the warning signs that alerted tourists of the dangers of climbing all the way to the top of the waterfall on the southwest side of the island. Recent rains had made the reasonably treacherous climb even more dangerous as it left the cliff wet and slippery.

After reaching the top of the waterfall, the British man lost his footing and fell from the top according to Thai PBS World. The man was fortunate that his fall was broken just a short way down the rocky cliff face. He did not fall all the way to the bottom which surely would have resulted in his death.

But he fell far enough to sustain injuries that made him unable to get up and climb his way out. Since he could not move, the seven people who had trekked with him went to call the authorities for help. A Thai rescue crew assessed the situation and determined that the landscape was too rugged for a simple rescue.

Pulling the British man back up to the top of the waterfall cliff would not be possible. A team of 30 rescuers and local officials descended upon the scene to devise a solution. They eventually determined that the best way to rescue the man from his perch high up on the cliff was to lower him to the base.

The team were able to tie a rope around his body and slowly lower him. Over the course of four hours, the British man was lowered from where he lay injured all the way to the base of the cliff where rescue workers were waiting. He was then transferred to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries.

Koh Samui News

Neill Fronde

Neill is a journalist from the United States with 10+ years broadcasting experience and national news and magazine publications. He graduated with a degree in journalism and communications from the University of California and has been living in Thailand since 2014.

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