Thai Media Appeals to Help Trapped German Tourist

THE case of a German tourist trapped in his own body inside a Thai hospital is being related in Thailand’s media outlets to help him fly home.

Now emerging from a coma yet still unable to speak, Matthias Stefan Koch, 38, has been confined to a bed at Songklanadarind Hospital in Hat Yai since October 25 last year when he sustained serious injuries in a fall at Hat Yai airport.

Since then, the bill for his hospital treatment has accumulated to 1.8 million, while the cost of flying him home to Germany is estimated at 400,000 baht.

Because he is unable to speak, nobody knows precisely how Mr Koch incurred the injuries. He had a history of mental illness before he was found after climbing and falling from an elevated passageway in an air-conditioning control room at Had Yai airport around 9pm.

Phuket Wan