A British man narrowly avoided death after plummeting from a 130ft waterfall during a hike with friends.
The man was part of a group of eight international tourists who were holidaying on the island of Koh Samui, Thailand and attempted to climb to the top of Na Muang Waterfall, according to Thai Tiger.
One of the seven had hiked to the top of the 130ft high waterfall, shortly after heavy rain had left the rocks slippery in southern Thailand. After reaching the top of the waterfall, the British man lost his footing and fell from the top.
It was suspected at the time that he may have injured his hip.
The unnamed tourist who fell on Christmas Eve fell enough to sustain injuries that made him unable to get up and climb his way out.
The seven people he was with, trekked back to safety and raised the alarm with the authorities.
A Thai rescue crew assessed the situation and determined that the landscape was not suitable for a simple rescue.
Thai Tiger reports that a team of 30 rescuers and local officials decided that the best way to rescue the man was to lower him to the base.
They tied a rope around his body and slowly winched him down to the bottom of the cliff, in an operation which took around four hours.
He was then transferred to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries.
The waterfall is notorious, which is why there are reportedly lots of warning signs on the hike up.
In May, a 23-year-old Romanian tourist fell to her death from Na Muang waterfall after she slipped while taking a photo.
In 2019, a 33-year-old French man died when he slipped and fell from the Na Mueang 2 waterfall on the island of Koh Samui.
A study published last year found 259 people around the world died attempting to take selfies between 2011 and 2017.
In 2017, another British tourist miraculously survived a 260ft drop from the same waterfall - which is only four miles from where EastEnders star Paul Nicholls suffered an almost identical ordeal and nearly died.
The tourist suffered multiple facial and skull fractures, splitting the back of his head open and shattering five teeth, but luckily had no brain damage.
Two years before that, a 24-year-old Newcastle man slipped and died at the same waterfalls.
A previous version of this article stated that a British tourist fell 130ft from a waterfall in Thailand. In fact, while the waterfall is 130ft tall, the tourist fell a much shorter distance. The article also said that he reportedly broke his hip. We have since learned that although he was suspected to have suffered an injury to his hip in the immediate aftermath of the fall, the tourist actually suffered an injury to his coccyx. We are happy to clarify this.
