A 23-year-old American woman, Hannah Michel Gavios, is recovering in a hospital in Krabi after falling down a mountain late Thursday night while fleeing a Thai man that was trying to sexually assault her.
The tourist fell 45 meters and suffered spinal cord fracture and injury and lost the ability to move her legs. She was stranded in the woods overnight until a search party found her on Friday morning.
Officials received a call on Thursday night reporting that a tourist had been injured after she fell in the Railay area.
Rescue workers searched for her that evening but couldn’t find her. The next morning, they discovered her lying between rocks 45 meters down from the trail at the top of the mountain. She was only 15 meters from the water below.
Rescue workers reported that Gavios could not feel anything in her legs at that time.
She told police that she fell while trying to escape a man who was sexually harassing her.Sarayuth Tantein, Chief of the Haad Nopparathara National Park – Moo Ko Phi Phi National Park, said his officers had found the man in question.
“They found one man, identified as Apai Raingworn, who admitted that he had made sexual advances toward a tourist while taking her from Railay to Tonsai,” he said.
The man has no job but volunteers to help tourists as a guide, reported Thai PBS.
Apai told officers that the woman panicked and ran away, causing her to fall down the mountain.
The officers took the man into custody and brought him to Ao Nang Police Station for questioning. Apai, 28, of Trang, admitted to the incident and had some scratches and bruises on his face and body.
The American Embassy has been notified of the incident
Story: The Phuket News
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