THAILAND: Briton survives after a flash flood trapped foreign tourists in a cave in Thailand, killing eight people

Record ID: 785340

  • Title: THAILAND: Briton survives after a flash flood trapped foreign tourists in a cave in Thailand, killing eight people
  • Date: 15th October 2007
  • Summary: (W2) SURAT THANI PROVINCE, THAILAND (OCTOBER 14, 2007) (REUTERS) PROVINCIAL OFFICIAL GIVING FLOWERS TO BRITISH SURVIVOR HELENA CARROLL DEPUTY GOVERNOR BANYAT CHANSENA GIVING FLOWERS TO CARROLL (SOUNDBITE) (English) 21-YEAR-OLD BRITISH SURVIVOR HELENA CARROLL SAYING: "We were halfway through the cave and we were looking at all the bats and the spiders, everything like that, and I turned around and this water went like 'whoosh' and my boyfriend John turned around, said we were going to die and I said 'no no no.' So we climbed up to a rock but it wasn't high enough. I lost my grip and I went off with the current and I found somewhere to hold on to and I came up trying to breathe because I've been under water for so long. And then John popped up and I said 'you're there, thank god you're there' and I kept climbing up and John goes, 'I'm going to go with the current' I said 'don't, sit here with me' and he was like 'no no no no no' he just let go he said 'I love you' and he just let go and I didn't see him. I sat in the cave half till 12 o'clock this afternoon until he found me. The water was so strong you could just hear it and it was rising and rising and rising. But he saved me." CARROLL SHOWING BRUISES ON HER LEGS (SOUNDBITE) (English) 21-YEAR-OLD BRITISH SURVIVOR HELENA CARROLL SAYING: "I went to go lower to see if I could find John and I went lower and slipped and just hit my head straight on the cave."
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Thailand
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA18HYIN3OBKH4Q9OXAGRM4M65R
  • Story Text: A British tourist was found alive on Sunday (October 14) after a flash flood trapped her in a cave in southern Thailand, killing six foreign tourists and two Thais.
    Twenty-one-year-old Helena Carroll was found alive after a long search that began on Saturday night in the Khao Sok national park in Surat Thani province, about 650 km south of Bangkok.
    Carroll was holding on to nearby rocks with her boyfriend, who was killed in the incident.
    A park official said Carroll was found in the top part of the cave and that the water had probably pushed her up there and she was unable to get back down. She was slightly injured and is now recovering in the hospital.
    "We were halfway through the cave and we were looking at all the bats and the spiders, everything like that, and I turned around and this water went like 'whoosh' and my boyfriend John turned around, said we were going to die and I said 'no no no.' So we climbed up to a rock but it wasn't high enough. I lost my grip and I went off with the current and I found somewhere to hold on to and I came up trying to breathe because I've been under water for so long. And then John popped up and I said 'you're there, thank god you're there' and I kept climbing up and John goes, 'I'm going to go with the current' I said 'don't, sit here with me' and he was like 'no no no no no' he just let go he said 'I love you' and he just let go and I didn't see him. I sat in the cave half till 12 o'clock this afternoon until he found me. The water was so strong you could just hear it and it was rising and rising and rising. But he saved me," she said.
    Carroll said she had gone under water to search for her boyfriend.
    "I went to go lower to see if I could find John and I went lower and slipped and just hit my head straight on the cave," she said, explaining a bruise on her nose.
    Eight people, including four Swiss, one Briton and a 10-year-old German boy, drowned in the flash flood on Saturday (October 13), officials said.
    A Thai tourist guide and a boatman also drowned in the 500 metre (1,640 ft) deep Nam Talu cave, they said.
    Thailand's Tourism Minister Suwit Yodmanee met with British embassy officials afterwards and was briefed by police on the accident.
    The cave on the Rachaprapa reservoir is home to bats. The Khao Sok national park was closed after the accident and it remains unclear when it will reopen.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register