PHUKET: A young Belarusian man was rescued on Tuesday after becoming lost on a forested mountain near Nai Thon beach in Thalang district overnight.
The man called the tourist police hotline 1155 at 11.18pm on Monday, saying he could not find his way back to where he had begun his walk.
Pol Lt Bunyiam Melapho, a deputy tourist police inspector, and two other officers spoke with the man and confirmed his location via the GPS on his phone. Rescue workers in rubber boats were then dispatched. At about 5.30am on Tuesday, the man was found and taken back to his accommodation. He had sustained no injuries, officers said.
Dzmitry Neudakh, 23, told police that he had entered the country on Feb 18 via Suvarnabhumi airport on a tourist visa. He travelled to Phuket on March 3 and was staying at a hotel in Thalang.
On Monday evening, he was walking along Nai Ton beach to a nearby forested mountain, using the map on his phone. The distance did not appear to be far, he said. But after walking for a while, he got lost in the forest and could not find the way back out. The sea tides were also rising, he said.
He thanked police and everyone else involved in the search for locating him.
Dzmitry Neudakh is spotted on the rocks from an approaching rescue boat as the tides rise early Tuesday morning. (Photo: police)