A Greek tourist who went up a Koh Larn cliff but couldn’t get down had to be rescued by a Royal Thai Navy helicopter.
Bouras Thedoras, 37, was stuck for three hours on a ledge on the Yak mountain cliff, approximately 100 meters above ground, near Samae Beach Dec. 9.
Thedoras got stuck after discovering – halfway up the cliff – that the soil was too soft for him to either continue climbing or go down. The cliff stands vertically at almost 90 degrees and its peak is more than 150 meters high.
A member of the Navy’s SEAL team is lowered down to pluck the stranded Greek from the side of the cliff.
The climber shouted for help at a passing fishing boat, which radioed for police and rescuers around 5 p.m. But the Sawang Boriboon Thammasathan Foundation crew that arrived realized it lacked the experience and equipment to help the stranded climber.
They contacted the Sattahip Naval Base, which around 6:20 p.m. sent a patrol boat, Navy SEALs, and a rescue helicopter. With the copter hovering above the Greek man, a SEAL roped down, secured him and brought him up to the helicopter. It then flew to U-Tapao-Pattaya International Airport.
Bouras Thedoras shouted for help at a passing fishing boat, which radioed for police and rescuers.
Thedoras was uninjured other than some scratches and exhaustion. He was examined later at Bangkok Hospital Pattaya.
Thedoras said he is an experienced climber and had scaled several cliffs in Krabi and Phuket. When he visited Koh Larn, he felt the Yak cliff was challenging, but didn’t realize how bad the conditions were.
