An Irish tourist plunged to his death from a moving train as he tried to take a selfie on Thailand’s “Death Railway.”
Patrick Ward, 45, was on a trip from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi with other tourists as he plummeted down the steep slope from an open door.
Ward opened the train door to take a selfie. He slipped below the railway. The tour company owner said Ward slipped after he lost his balance when the train was turning a sharp corner.
Other tourists filming the beautiful scenery from the train had a shocking interruption and captured the horrendous moment as Ward plunged around 10 meters to his death. The video clip shows him dropping from the carriage door to the side of the cliff.
The locomotive driver stopped the train and the rescue team scrambled to the area.
When he fell, Ward broke his right arm and neck. The rescuers attempted to resuscitate him for about thirty minutes, but he succumbed to his injuries.
Confirming the death, Lieutenant Colonel Kiattisak Kerdchoke said he was informed at around 11:45 am that a tourist had fallen from a train along the railway bridge.
“Our officer had to be creative to slowly descend the cliff to try and help the injured man. They found a big tear wound on the right arm and a broken neck when they descended. The man was not responsive and not breathing,” he said.
The Thai-Burma Railway, popularly known as the “Death Railway,” was built during World War II, between 1940-1943 by prisoners and civilian laborers of war captured by the Japanese from several countries.
The main purpose of the train was to move soldiers and weapons from Japan’s Burma military camps during WW II. An estimated 180,000-250,000 civilians and 60,000 prisoners of war took part in constructing the railway. Among them, over 100,000 reportedly died during the construction process.