Buddhist monk survives for days trapped upside down in cave

An elderly Buddhist monk survived four days trapped upside down in a narrow cave without food and water.

Luang Ta Somchai, 77, disappeared from Wat Thammasathan Phasawan temple in northeastern Thailand on December 7.

Volunteers and community leaders desperately scoured a 2km area around the temple in vein before he was discovered stuck in a tight rock crevice on December 11.

Rescuers had to climb down a 98ft (30m) cave to find the monk, where they found him upside down in the deep, narrow third chamber.

All that could be seen through the hole were his feet, with his head and shoulders wedged in to the crevice.

Officers had to abseil head-first into the confined space to reach him.

Luang Ta Somchai said he had entered the cave system from a different point and became lost inside a natural labyrinth.

The monk said: ‘I walked through the cave but could not get out again. I had no phone, so I just waited and called for help.

‘I’m thankful to all the people who helped me.’

It took more than three hours to carefully pry Luang Ta Somchai free from the rocks around him.

Despite the four day ordeal, doctors said he was sustained only minor injuries and was dehydrated.

Authorities described his survival over four days without assistance as remarkable.

Rescue officer Tawadee said: ‘The monk was conscious when found but physically weak. He had scratches all over his body.’

In October, a team of rescuers managed to save three cavers who had become trapped inside the Dowber Gill Passage in North Yorkshire for 42 hours.

Volunteers found the men at around 2.30am on Friday, sitting below ledges near a 60-foot-deep rift by the Dow Cave.

It took a delicate three hour operation with more than a hundred volunteers working against rising floodwaters to get them out safely.

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