Police rescue tourist 'trapped in cave for four days' in Thailand

A tourist allegedly stranded for four days inside a cave was rescued by volunteers.

Ekkachai, 47, trekked into the Wang Srithammasokkraj Water Cave to admire the beautiful stalactites and stalagmites in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, Thailand on August 14.

However, his flashlight batteries died while he was roaming the winding interior. He was forced to wander in the swamped cavern in the dark.

Ekkachai was finally rescued on August 18, when Sophon Promkaew, head of the Khuntale Subdistrict Municipality, noticed that his motorcycle had been parked near the cave's entrance for several days.

Sophon called the Lansaka Police Station and volunteers to conduct a search.

Footage shows rescuers wearing head lights walking down a flight of stairs at the entrance of the cave.

Within an hour, the team found a drenched and freezing Ekkachai and ushered him out of the flooded cave. He was shirtless and barefoot with a backpack of supplies that tided him over the four days he was lost.

Ekkachai said: 'I went in alone to explore the cave, but my flashlight batteries suddenly ran out. I couldn't find my way out because it was too dark. I thought I was going to die in there. I was lucky I didn't drown.'

Ekkachai was taken to the Lansaka Hospital for treatment.

Just a week earlier, a Thai tour guide drowned when a flash flood swept into a cave in Thailand's Surat Thani province.

Pongyot Kerddee, 37, was leading dozens of tourists to the exit of the Nam Thalu Cave in Surat Thani province when the deluge swept him off his feet and carried him into the back of the cave.

Rescuers found his lifeless body lodged in a rocky crevice in the early hours of August 7. Entry to the cave was prohibited due to seasonal flooding during Thailand's rainy season.

Thailand and neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia are in their annual monsoon rainy season which sees soaring temperatures followed by powerful rain storms in the afternoon leading to widespread flash floods.