Pop-folk singer Su "Jui" Boonlieng was injured on a flight to Koh Samui when a Chinese tourist rushed to open an overhead locker after the plane landed and floor-tile samples fell onto his head.
The tourist quickly left, leaving a dazed and bleeding Jui with a 2-inch cut on his head that required seven stitches.
The owner of the tile samples, which weighed about 4kg, was standing nearby and rushed to apologise. An air hostess gave him first aid.
Jui, or Somjui, 56, a native of Koh Samui and a writer and singer with the band Chaliang, on Friday posted the story on social media, along with three photos. It drew solicitous comments from his fans.
He wrote, “There was an accident that caused me to suffer a head injury. Something fell onto my head. Unless I write about what happened, I will have to answer questions one by one. # Telling it again and again would be very tiring.’’
He said the accident happened on a Bangkok Airways flight after it touched down at Samui airport.
“When the aircraft landed at the airport, one passenger I believed to be a Chinese tourist ... hurriedly opened the compartment, causing an object (floor-tile samples) weighing about 4kg to fall onto the middle of my head,’’ the singer wrote.
A Thai woman standing nearby quickly admitted the tiles were hers and apologised. The Chinese man who had opened the compartment walked away as if nothing had happened.
Flight attendants brought tissue paper to absorb the blood pouring from his head and put ice on it before sending him to Bangkok Samui Hospital.
“The wound to my skull is not so deep, but it’s about two inches long. A doctor put in seven stiches and told me to keep it clean for seven days," he wrote.
The owner of the floor tiles told him she was willing to help if asked. She then handed him her name card, and was shocked when she read the card he handed her in return.
“She exclaims “Oh!.. This is Phi Somjui. I just read your 'Kabod-taem-kuan' book,’’ the writer said.