The chaotic rescue on Monday morning started with a phone call from the residents of a block of flats along Kalpapruek Road in Bangkok. They told the police that a man had fallen through a gap in the concrete slabs covering a drain separating the building from a canal, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported.
When rescuers arrived, they found a man wedged between the slabs with only his legs protruding from the opening of the drainage pipe connected to the canal. Despite being clearly stuck, the man, later identified only as 28-year-old “Jack”, refused help and shouted in English that he could get out on his own, according to the KhaoSod newspaper.
He even tried to crawl deeper into the drain, while shouting incoherently, as the rescuers began to cut and drill through the concrete. Eventually, some of the rescuers had to crawl into the small space to pull him out, after binding his torso with cloth. Others had to push his legs from the opening.
Jack became more agitated during the rescue process, even biting off the strap of a female rescuer’s wristwatch and chewing on it, according to the Thai Examiner news website. His erratic behaviour continued above ground. After he spat at his rescuers, they placed a medical mask over his mouth and strapped him to a backboard to restrain him.
During the initial medical assessment, paramedics found only scratches and no broken bones. But as his mental state was unstable and he appeared paranoid and disoriented, they suspected that substance abuse might be involved.
A foreign resident of the block of flats who helped translate Jack’s conversation told the rescuers that Jack claimed to be living in the building with his Thai girlfriend. But he could not explain how he came to be stuck in the drain.
