Johnathan Vaimaona, 36, an American tourist was found in a Thepprasit Road sewer into which he fell and was trapped for several hours.
Pattaya rescue workers arrived at the scene of the incident in the evening of May 16, where they found a foreign man inside the 1.5m deep sewer. The man was covered in mud and looked extremely exhausted. The rescue team used high-pressure water to clear the sand around the edges of the manhole cover. They then used ropes and rescue equipment to successfully open the cover and pull the foreigner out from the drainage pipe.
Mr. Chalee Boonsri, a 26-year-old man, who was the first person to discover the foreigner, said that while he was parking his car nearby, he heard cries for help coming from the drainage pipe. He approached the area and found the man trapped inside. A local resident immediately contacted the authorities for assistance.
Vaimaona was extremely fatigued and his speech was slurred. He identified himself as an American but other than that, he couldn’t recall how he had fallen into the drainage pipe or where he was coming from or where he was going to. He also couldn’t remember where he lived. The foreigner stated that he had been stuck in the drainage pipe since noon, which was about 7 hours until he was found and rescued.
The officers cleansed the man of the mud on his body and applied first aid. Police are investigating as to how Vaimaona ended up at the bottom of the sewer.
