PHUKET: An Aussie tourist who stood on a ledge for 90 minutes at a Phuket resort has left other guests and Thai police distressed and upset today.
As the drama unfolded in darkness from 5.30am, the young man initially refused to be talked down by horrified onlookers at the five-star resort on Patong beach.
Police have identified him as being aged 21, from Bendigo, north of Melbourne.
It's possible that he came to Phuket with younger friends on a ''schoolies'' break to mark the end of high school.
''Some of his friends were obviously drunk today,'' said a Patong paramedic at Phuket Graceland Resort and Spa. ''We set up the big mattress ready for him to jump.''
About 30 police and paramedics were involved in preparing the mattress in case the man chose to leap.
Some of his friends, far from sober, attempted to help by venturing onto the ledge. They had to be dissuaded by rescuers.
The concerns of local authorities were real. An Australian man plunged 18 floors from a high-rise Patong resort just last week.
The week before that, a British expat resident climbed a Tourist Police radio tower in Phuket City and jumped.
The British man died. Remarkably, the Australian man survived after plummeting through an awning on the second floor that broke his fall.
Today, after an agonising hour-and-a-half, the young man was talked down. He strolled off with rescue officers.
He arrived on Phuket on November 15 and is due to leave next Monday.
As the drama unfolded in darkness from 5.30am, the young man initially refused to be talked down by horrified onlookers at the five-star resort on Patong beach.
Police have identified him as being aged 21, from Bendigo, north of Melbourne.
It's possible that he came to Phuket with younger friends on a ''schoolies'' break to mark the end of high school.
''Some of his friends were obviously drunk today,'' said a Patong paramedic at Phuket Graceland Resort and Spa. ''We set up the big mattress ready for him to jump.''
About 30 police and paramedics were involved in preparing the mattress in case the man chose to leap.
Some of his friends, far from sober, attempted to help by venturing onto the ledge. They had to be dissuaded by rescuers.
The concerns of local authorities were real. An Australian man plunged 18 floors from a high-rise Patong resort just last week.
The week before that, a British expat resident climbed a Tourist Police radio tower in Phuket City and jumped.
The British man died. Remarkably, the Australian man survived after plummeting through an awning on the second floor that broke his fall.
Today, after an agonising hour-and-a-half, the young man was talked down. He strolled off with rescue officers.
He arrived on Phuket on November 15 and is due to leave next Monday.
send them all home today !
Posted by harry on November 20, 2012 11:13