British man falls down open sewer manhole in Bangkok

04 กันยายน 2558

Paul John Miller, 46, fell into sewer hole in Pathum Thani as he was waling with friends home on Tuesday night. The injured British man said the three-metre hole was left open with no warning sign anywhere.

Paul John Miller, 46, fell into sewer hole in Pathum Thani as he was waling with friends home on Tuesday night. The injured British man said the three-metre hole was left open with no warning sign anywhere.

After falling into an open manhole late at night, rescue workers were able to extract the UK national and send him to a hospital. Photo by Pongpat Wongyala

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British man falls down open sewer manhole in Bangkok

The ladder used to pull the man out of the hole.

As he left a restaurant in Pathumthani in northern Bangkok with his friends late at night on Tuesday, Paul John Miller, 46, from the UK fell into a three meter deep sewer manhole.

After the fall, he became stuck in chest-deep sewer muck.

Luckily, his friends were able to call for help immediately.

If he was walking alone, he might have been stuck down there for a while

Local rescue workers were able to haul him out of the sewage and send him to a local hospital to treat the bruises and wounds that he sustained from the fall and the subsequent extraction.

Ordinarily, the sewer manhole would have been covered by a manhole cover but a worker apparently forgot to place the manhole cover back on the hole after repairs.

The man, who runs a local business, said he will file a complaint with the local authorities.

In a similar 2014 case, another man fell into an uncovered manhole in Bangkok at night and, not as lucky as the UK man this week, drowned and died in the sewage muck.

Bangkok city workers had accidentally left the manhole open after road repairs.