POLICEMEN and officials last evening (August 27) safely rescued a slightly injured Frenchman who had got lost in a hilly forest at Koh Phangan island, Amarin TV said today.
Upon being alerted by 1155 hotline that a tourist was lost in the hilly forest at Ban Tai subdistrict, a team of Tourist police, Koh Phangang provincial police, Koh Phangan district administration officials and Mr. Termpong Sonvisai, an official of Than Sadet Waterfall National Park, went to search for him.
He was later identified as Mr. Marouan Rouatbi, 26.
While they were able to reach Rouatbi by phone and WhatsApp messaging app they had to carefully plan the rescue operation as it was already dark and hilly terrain adjacent to Thong Nai Pan road difficult to go through.
It was at 6.50 p.m., around 50 minutes after they set forth, that they found the tourist who had a few scratches. After dressing his wounds they walked down the forest and upon reaching the road again checked his health and found that aside from being dehydrated he was fine so they gave him some drinking water.
The search party had trekked through three kilometres of the dense forest in searching for him with it being much more difficult to locate someone there at night than during the day.
Local officials have been asked to put up warning signs on the track leading to the forest to warn tourists that it is risky to trek through it.
Earlier this month a young foreign couple and another European man were separately rescued from hilly forests at Koh Phangan and Koh Tao.
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The French tourist, Mr. Marouan Rouatbi, after being rescued. Photos: Amarin TV
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