A British tourist narrowly escaped a horrific flash flood that swept away a cave and killed her tour guide in Thailand.
Emily Lucy Davies, 23, from Newcastle, was exploring the restricted Nam Talu cave with 21 other visitors when the deluge hit as they were leaving the area in Surat Thani province last night.
Thai tour guide Pongyot Kerddee, 37, was knocked down and dragged into the cave while the rest of the group managed to brace themselves for the raging current.
Park rangers launched a rescue operation after receiving a report about the trapped people at 7 p.m. local time.
All the tourists and another Thai guide, Kraiprachak Jansatem, were taken to safety, but Pongyot was still missing.
Rescuers found her lifeless body lodged in a rocky crevice in the cave early Wednesday morning. She is said to have gotten married last month.
This image shows the entrance to the infamous Nam Talu Cave.
Emily Lucy Davies, 23, from Newcastle, was with 21 other visitors exploring the restricted Nam Talu cave when the flood hit.
Members of the tour group sit and recover from injuries after being rescued from the cave.
This image shows the interior of the cave before the flood.
Rescuers carry injured members of the hiking group back to the cave after their rescue.
Authorities said Kraiprachak suffered a dislocated hip bone, while Emily and a Dutch woman, Micha Medyna van der Pluijm, 18, suffered minor injuries.
They were treated at Ban Takhun Hospital.
Two other injured people refused to go to hospital.
Jessada Jitrat, governor of Surat Thani province, said: ‘I have been monitoring the situation throughout the night.
‘Ban Takhun district officials will coordinate with Khao Sok National Park, rescuers, volunteers and boat operators to provide assistance to tourists.’
Local media reported that entry to Nam Talu cave, located next to the Rajjaprabha dam, is prohibited from June to November due to seasonal flooding.
It was not clear how the Thai tour guides were able to access the area.
The cave was also the scene of a terrible flood that killed another British tourist and seven other people in 2007.
John Cullen, 24, drowned while saving his fiancée Helena Carroll, 21, from rising floodwaters.
Carroll, 21, was the only survivor of a group of nine exploring the cave complex after a flash flood swept away Cullen, two tour guides, a Swiss family of four and a ten-year-old German boy.
The cave was also the site of a terrible flood that killed another British tourist and seven other people in 2007.
Emergency services load the body of a Thai tour guide who died due to floodwaters in the cave into an ambulance.
John Cullen, 24, drowned while saving his fiancée Helena Carroll, 21, from rising waters at Nam Talu cave in 2007.
Helena Carroll was the only survivor of a group of nine people exploring the cave complex after a flash flood swept Cullen, two tour guides, a Swiss family of four and a ten-year-old German boy to their deaths.
“I guess we were halfway through the cave when I heard a sudden roar,” said Carroll, from Solihull, West Midlands, weeks after the harrowing incident.
‘I looked back and saw a stream of water heading towards us. John and I started to climb up. The first thing we saw was a tour guide and the German guy being dragged along, then the Swiss couple and their two beautiful little girls.
‘As we were climbing, I lost my balance and slipped, but John grabbed me and pulled me up. We continued to climb higher and found a ledge.
“We couldn’t see anything because all the torches had gone out. John said, ‘If we stay here, we’ll die.’ I said, ‘We should stay. At least we’re safe where we are.'”
‘He decided he would just go with the flow. He thought the current would carry him away and then he could bring help to rescue me.
“He slipped and fell into the water. That was the last time I saw him. He let go and disappeared.”
The bodies of the eight victims were found a few hours later while Carroll remained trapped on the ledge for hours.
She was later rescued by a search team.
