British woman caught in fatal cave tour flood horror (2024)

A British tourist has narrowly escaped from a terrifying flash flood that swept into 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 struck as they were exiting the area in Surat Thani province yesterday evening.

Thai tour guide Pongyot Kerddee, 37, was knocked off his feet and washed back into the cave while the rest of the group managed to brace themselves against the raging current.

Park rangers launched a rescue operation after receiving a report about the trapped individuals at 7pm local time.

All the tourists and another Thai guide, Kraiprachak Jansatem, were led to safety, but Pongyot was still missing.

Rescuers found his lifeless body lodged in a rocky crevice in the cave early Wednesday morning. He was said to have got married just last month.

Authorities said Kraiprachak suffered a dislocated hip bone, while Emily and a Dutch woman, Micha Medyna van der Pluijm, 18, had minor injuries.

They were treated at the Ban Takhun Hospital.

Two other wounded individuals declined to go to the hospital.

Jessada Jitrat, Governor of Surat Thani Province, said: 'I have been monitoring the situation throughout the night.

'Ban Takhun District officials will be co-ordinating with the Khao Sok National Park, rescuers, volunteers, and boat operators to provide assistance to the tourists.'

Local media reported that entry to the Nam Talu Cave, located next to the Rajjaprabha Dam, is prohibited from June to November because of the seasonal flooding.

It was unclear how the Thai tour guides were able to access the area.

The cave was also the site of a horror flood that killed another British tourist and seven others in 2007.

John Cullen, 24, drowned while saving his fiancee Helena Carroll, 21, from the surging floodwaters.

Carroll, 21, was the sole survivor from a party of nine exploring the cave complex after a flash flood swept Cullen, twotour guides, a Swiss family of four and a ten-year-old German boy to their deaths.

'I guess we had got halfway through the cave when I heard this sudden roar,' said Carroll, from Solihull, West Midlands, weeks after the harrowing incident.

'I looked behind and saw this rush of water coming towards us. John and I started climbing. The first thing we saw was a tour guide and the German boy being dragged away, then the Swiss couple and their two lovely girls.

'As we climbed I lost my grip and slipped down but John grabbed me and pulled me up. We kept climbing higher and found a ledge.

'We could not see anything as all the torches had gone. John said, ''If we stay here we are going to die''. I said, ''We should stay. At least we are safe where we are''.

'He decided that he would get into the current and flow with it. He thought the current would take him out, then he could bring help to rescue me.

'He slipped into the water and that's the last I saw of him. He let go and he was just gone.'

The eight victims' bodies were found a few hours later as Carroll remained trapped on the ledge for hours.

She was later rescued by a search party.