Ko Samui waterfall horror lands British soldier in deep debt
Romantic island getaway in Thailand turns into a blood-soaked nightmare
A dream trip to Thailand turned into a living hell for a British soldier after he plunged from a waterfall, shattering his body and racking up a jaw-dropping £100,000 (4.4 million baht) medical bill, with no way home in sight.
The 21 year old squaddie has been left broken and stranded after falling from a popular Thai waterfall while taking pictures, smashing his skull, femur, and dreams of a idyllic holiday with his girlfriend.
Liam Gibson, a member of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, slipped while exploring the picturesque Na Muang Waterfall 2 on Koh Samui. The scenic snap turned into a bloodbath as he crashed onto a rocky ledge metres below, just inches from a 100 metres drop that’s claimed lives before, said Gibson’s 20 year old girlfriend girlfriend Lucy Baldwin.
“He was bleeding out, slipping in and out of consciousness. It was horrific. I had to hold him so he wouldn’t slip further down the waterfall with my arms and legs wrapped around him, sitting in a pool of his blood.
“He had bone sticking out of his leg, you could see his skull. It was absolutely horrific.”
The couple were only a week into a month-long backpacking adventure when disaster struck. Gibson was eventually airlifted to a local hospital five hours after the fall, where he underwent multiple surgeries and blood transfusions, said Baldwin.
“He shattered his femur in three places, broke his arm, his hand, smashed his eye socket, cheekbone, nose, skull! It was catastrophic.”
But the nightmare doesn’t end there. Doctors say the Hartlepool man needs specialist reconstructive surgery back in the UK, and the cost of flying him home on a medjet is pushing their bill past the £100,000 mark.
With the soldier still stuck in a Thai hospital, the couple have launched a GoFundMe campaign in a desperate bid to get him back on British soil, said his girlfriend.
“The bills are spiralling and he can’t get the surgery he needs until he’s home. We’re just devastated. What started as a perfect day turned into the worst experience of my life.”
She had seen the waterfall on TikTok and convinced her boyfriend to check it out. But moments after he went to snap some photos, he vanished from sight.
“I kept shouting for him, then I saw him on the ledge, unconscious. I screamed for help, and a Thai boy helped reach him.”
Baldwin believes he would’ve died instantly if he’d fallen all the way down, as had two tourists before him.
“As we waited for help, there was just so much blood everywhere. The water was washing it away but it kept coming. Liam thought he was going to die. We tied his leg with a T-shirt to stop the bleeding. It was excruciating to watch.”
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are aware of a British man hospitalised in Thailand and stand ready to provide assistance.”
The Tourism Authority of Thailand and local police have also been contacted for comment, The Daily Mail reported.
Shockingly, Baldwin isn’t the first to suffer at the so-called paradise site. The tragic fall has sparked fresh questions about safety at the Instagram-famous tourist trap.
Latest Thailand News
Follow The Thaiger on Google News:
