SURAT THANI: Two foreign tourists have been rescued after getting lost in the jungle on a hillside of Koh Phangan during a storm, police said.
Officers at Koh Phangan Tourist Police received a call on the 1155 hotline at about 10pm on Tuesday reporting that two men had become stranded in the dense forest between Haad Yuan and Haad Rin in tambon Ban Tai of Koh Phangan district.
The pair, Boris Andres Ponton, an Ecuadorian national, and Zach Izhak Berlinski, an Israeli national, both around 40 years old, sent their last location to a friend via the Line app shortly after 9pm, before their mobile phone battery died.
Authorities mobilised a coordinated search involving administrative officials, tourist police, national park rangers and rescue volunteers. The team advanced on foot with lighting equipment due to the steep terrain, thick forest and heavy rainfall.
At 11.43pm, rescuers located the men on a slope to the left of Haad Rin, exhausted but uninjured. They were escorted down, given first aid and returned safely to their accommodation.
The tourists told officials they had set out in the early evening to hike a nature trail for views over Haad Rin but lost their way after there was a storm and heavy rain in the late evening, making it impossible to see the road as the evening grew darker.
They thanked all agencies for the swift and safe rescue.
Source: Bangkok Post