A young man has fractured his skull after plunging 260ft from a waterfall in Thailand.

Luke Scott, 20, also fractured his eye socket, broke two ribs, his nose, knee, hip and ankle as well as fracturing his jaw and losing five teeth when he slipped on a rock and plummeted down the steep Na Muang Waterfall in Ko Samui.

The former Nelson Thomlinson pupil, of Wampool Place, Wigton, told his family it was the “scariest moment of my life”.

He was on holiday with five others including life-long friends Harvey Hughes and Callum Dodd.
Na Muang Waterfall

The group were less than a week into their 16-day trip, which they had been planning for months. They were taking in some of the sites on a tour on Saturday when Luke slipped on a wet rock on the waterfall.

His friends said he hit rocks three times during the fall.

His worried mum Karen said: “Two had already gone up. They said it was just like slow motion. They saw him trying to grab something but the water just must have took him.

“Some of the photos are horrific. The poor lads must have been terrified. It must be awful.”

She added: “It’s been an absolute nightmare. It is just the not knowing and him being so far away and the time difference.”

“[Luke] is putting a brave face on but I think he just wants to come home.

“It’s awful. You don’t expect it to happen to your own son. You hear about things all the time.

“As long as he comes home in one piece that’s the main thing.

“His sister is absolutely heartbroken and can’t wait to have him home.”

Luke has been in intensive care since the fall. He has undergone an operation on his face and leg and had a brain scan which fortunately showed no damage.

Today he is set to be airlifted from the island to a hospital in Bangkok for assessment before he can be given the all clear to make the 15-hour flight home.

Karen said it’s comforting to know her son is not alone and has Harvey by his side, who will be flying home with him, but she just can’t want to have him back.

Harvey, 20, said: “I didn’t want to leave him on his own, Thailand can be done anytime, it needs to be with my best pal.”

On hearing the news Harvey’s mum Debra Knight said: “We just want to make sure they get home as quickly as possible and that the insurance company act quickly and get him moved as quickly as possible back to the UK so he can be with his mum.”