A British teenager who was lost for over a week in a Thai jungle has explained how he managed to stay alive.
Lawrence Stallard Honour, 19, first went missing on 27 September, with the youngster last seen leaving a hotel in Myanmar, which soon prompted a frantic search from local police.
When he first went missing, his mother Gulnara filed a report at the Pattaya City Police Station.
She told officers: "I checked my son's email and found records of his movements in Kanchanaburi province, which was very worrying. He's a very shy and quiet boy but he is excellent with computers.
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"I'm afraid that he has spoken to people online and be tricked into going to one of these scam centres in Myanmar, where they don't let people leave."
Although there were fears that the teenager had been lured into a scam compound, it emerged that he was actually lost in the forest, where he remained for 10 days before eventually being discovered by the One Sky Foundation on October 11 after stumbling his way to the Wat Tham Kaew Sawan Bandan temple.
After the computer whiz was rescued and he had spoken to police, it emerged that he'd been going to some pretty extreme methods to stay alive, eating ants and tree bark as a source of sustenance while trying to find his way back home.
He had been wandering through the woods, despite being disorientated and alone, before he managed to find help, but it very easily could have been a disastrous end for the teenager.
Police Colonel Santi Phithaksakul, superintendent of Sangkhla Buri Police Station, said he was notified on Monday, October 13, that the boy was found alive at the temple.
He said: "The interrogation revealed that Mr. Lawrence intended to go to Payathonzu in Karen State, Myanmar. He had planned to go through the Three Pagodas border pass on September 27, but the checkpoint had already closed."
There were serious concerns that Lawrence might have been trafficked or abused, as Myanmar has been in a state of turmoil since the democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi was removed by a military coup in February 2021.
This led to civil war and armed conflict, so it remains unclear exactly why the 19-year-old was trying to cross into Myanmar before going missing.
His British father, alongside his mother Gulnara, were informed that he had been found safe by police and they were able to collect him from the rescue team late last week.
James Moorhouse