A Brit tourist whose suspected disappearance from a notorious party island sparked a police manhunt has been found safe in a gloomy hostel.
Daniel Davies was reported missing this month after family members of the 26-year-old – who had travelled to Thailand on holiday – said they hadn’t heard from him since March 13. Daniel, from Llanelli, Wales, was staying at the Hangover Hostel in Bangkok, and was last seen on the island of Koh Phi Phi, an infamous party spot populated by bars and packed with blaring sound systems. His loved ones were left desperate after his “highly out of character” silence and filed a police report, but new footage has captured the moment he was shockingly discovered bleary-eyed but safe in a Thai hostel this week.
Daniel’s family filed a missing persons report with local Dyfed-Powys Police following his disappearance, with officers in Southeast Asia unable to find him until his case reached international attention on Tuesday. Local investigators launched a search of the island and the nearby Krabi province on the mainland.
A video taken by officers who found him on a bunk bed at The Guest Hotel and Hostel shows the moment the 26-year-old is told his family is “a little bit worried”.
He is initially confronted by a man who introduces himself as a representative of tourist assistance services, with Daniel saying “I’m good” after he is asked how he’s doing.
The tourist representative adds he is “here to visit you” before an unfazed Daniel confirms there is “no problem” and appears alive and well as he organises himself on the bed. After shrugging off official concerns, the tourist then gets his clothes on and walks down the street. Neither he nor his family have confirmed whether contact has been made since he was found.
Police Colonel Soratat Iamlauor said in a statement that officers who had spoken with other backpackers at the hotel with whom Daniel had spoken said he was “having a problem with his family”. But he added that no one police had spoken to were able to confirm what the problem was.
He said: “Officers travelled to investigate and found the tourist staying at the hotel alone. However, he initially refused to give any information to officers.
“When we asked tourists at the same hotel who had spoken to the British man, it was learned that he was having a problem with his family. He told his friends that he did not want to go home. No one knows what the problem was.”
Local police added they would inform the British Embassy in Bangkok to coordinate with Daniel’s family.
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