Two men and a woman punched and kicked, then left lying in the street, in resort town of Hua Hin during Thai new year festival

Three members of a British family were punched to the ground and knocked unconscious by kicks to the face in an attack at a Thai beachside resort.

The holidaymakers – believed to be a man in his 40s and his parents, both in their 60s – were attacked by several men earlier this month during Thai new year celebrations in Hua Hin, a coastal town about three hours south of Bangkok, popular with older Europeans.

CCTV footage posted online shows a vicious and prolonged assault in a street, which starts when a British man briefly touches shoulders with a Thai man carrying a bottle who appears to push him to the ground.

The British woman takes the Thai man to the side and an argument ensues. Several Thai men punch the family until all three are on the ground. When they try to rise, they are kicked in the face and left unconscious before onlookers come to their aid.

Although the attack occurred on 13 April, the video only recently made it on to the internet. The family are believed to be still in Thailand but leaving soon.



Col Chaiyakorn Siradecho, of Thai police, said he met the family on 15 April, two days on from the attack and shortly after the three had left hospital.

He said the younger man and his father had head and face wounds. “The mother had a bump on her head and she still has a headache, which she needs to go and get checked at the hospital,” he said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hua Hin police stand behind two suspects arrested following the assault on the British couple and their son. Photograph: Hua Hin Police/AP

Police had arrested three men in their 20s and 30s who were charged, according to Chaiyakorn, after the family gave statements. A fourth is still at large. “The attackers admitted being drunk. There was no gang involved. They were simply drunk and lost control,” he said.

Thai media reported that the three men had been released on bail but Chaiyakorn said all were still detained in Hua Hin. He said the police had not leaked the video. A news website, Thai New Agency, posted a story on 17 April with photos of two men in the custody of Hua Hin police.

During the Thai new year’s Songkran festival, also known as the water festival, major streets are taken over by a giant water fight for three days as people party continuously. The water is a symbol of cleansing and renewal.

The British embassy had launched a safety campaign to make sure tourists were aware of the dangers. Car accidents spike during the festival and revellers are often drunk – but attacks on tourists are rare.

An anonymous user posted in a Hua Hin-based online forum on 13 April, hours after the assault, giving an eyewitness account of the attack and saying he was attacked himself while trying to intervene. In the footage a man in a red and white striped shirt does step in, but is himself attacked and overwhelmed.

“By the end of the night (around 2am) as the bar’s customers were leaving, gangs of Thai youths were priming themselves to start punching westerners,” said the user, using the alias “usual suspect”, who added he had walked out of a bar in the Binta area right behind the three victims.



“The girls in the bar I was in all night waved goodbye to two elderly customers and their son, and my wife and I followed only seconds after them,” he wrote.

“Within 20/30 metres of leaving the bar the Thais were punching the 65yr old lady in the face!! The elderly gentleman was down on the floor and their son was beaten very badly.”

He said that he was left needing dental work for his own injuries. “I got severely punched and kicked for my troubles, but felt the need to protect this frail lady.”