British woman killed after falling from 300ft waterfall in Thailand

A thirty-year-old British woman has been killed after being swept 300ft down a waterfall in Thailand.

Sarah Crutchley, who was in Thailand learning to teach English, lost her footing as she walked across submerged rocks and fell into two feet of water close to the edge of the Ton Nga Chang falls.

According to the Daily Mail, she desperately clung to a large rock before being washed away by water last Friday.

Mis Crutchley, from Bournemouth in Dorset, slid about 30ft down the rock face, before falling off the 300ft steep drop.

Just minutes before, Sarah had been telling her friend, Chris Penny, who witnessed her fall, that she had been having the time of her life in Thailand where she was half way through a four-week teacher training course run by the Teacha Language School in the southern city of Hat Yai.

The 21-year-old told the Mail: 'Sarah was just swept off her feet by the water. She grabbed hold of a large rock and hung on for about two or three seconds.

'I tried to get to her but I also slid and fell and grabbed on to another rock. She was about one or two feet from edge but didn't say a word.

'I cried out for help and then the current of water was just too strong for her and she lost her grip.

'She slid about 10 metres down the rocks and then fell over the edge. It must have been about a 100 metre drop.

'It was just horrible to watch. I think she was knocked out cold during the first fall and she wouldn't have known anything about it. She didn't stand a chance.'

Sarah visited the Ton Nga Chang waterfalls, a popular tourist spot, visited the Ton Nga Chang waterfalls, a popular tourist spot, with four friends.

The natural feature is made up of seven tiers of waterfalls descending a total of nearly 5,000ft.
The third tier - the one Sarah and Chris were climbing - is about 1,000ft from the bottom.

Sarah's body remains in Thailand and is due to be repatriated back to Britain.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: 'We can confirm the death of a British national on April 15 in Thailand.

'We are in touch with the family and are providing consular assistance.'

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