British Backpacker Injured after Falling Off Passenger Train in Southern Thailand

CHUMPHON – A 21-year-old British tourist was found unconscious after falling off a southbound train near a railway track in Chumphon’s Mueng district on Saturday morning.

The driver of the Thon Buri-Lang Suan train spotted the man at 10.50am and made an emergency call to police. Officers rushed to the scene to find the man lying with blood seeping from his nose and mouth.

The man was identified as 21 year-old Daniel Timothy Clarke of Aldershot in southern England.

Pol Capt Ranong Chumphinit of the Ban Wisai Nua police station said that the Clarke may have fallen from the Bangkok-Nakhon Si Thammarat train that has just passed the section of track where the train driver spotted him.

Rescuers rushed Clark to Chumphon Khet Udomsakdi Hospital for treatment.

Dr Sanchai Nakaphan, a physician at the hospital, said the Clarke had undergone an operation and an x-rays indicated that he had no damage to his brain.

His condition is improving but he is being closely monitored, the Bangkok Post reported.

Wiriya Kaenkaew, a Tourism Authority of Thailand official in Chumphon, said authorities had contacted Mr Clarke’s family and friends in the UK.

Meanwhile, a 27 year-old South African man was found dead in a house in Trang on Saturday and police are trying to determine what caused his death.

The body of the 27-year-old Christopher Leigh was found in a room in a rented house in Muang district. Bottles of beer, soft drinks, cigarette butts and an asthma inhaler were found inside, said Pol Lt Col Kanakorn Dolketsiri, a duty officer at the Muang police station.

Christopher Leigh was said to have been a teacher at a local language school.

Police are examining the items found in the room to help determine the cause of death, while the body has been sent for an autopsy at Songklanagarind Hospital in Hat Yai district of Songkhla.