An official with Bangkok’s airport authority, speaking on condition of anonymity, this morning told Coconuts Bangkok that the Thai passenger who projectile-vomited blood outside Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport on Sunday was not permitted to board his flight.
The representative from Don Mueang’s Special Activities and Mass Relation Department told us that the man, identified as a 41-year-old employee of an oil and gas service company, was taken to Samitivej Clinic, an on-site medical center, by a Nok Air representative.
According to information the department gathered following a request from Coconuts reporters, the man arrived at the medical clinic at about 5:15am on Sunday.
“After asking for his medical history and performing a medical check-up on the passenger, doctors concluded the man had a hemorrhage in his upper gastrointestinal tract,” the airport source said.
They continued: “The clinic believed this was caused by heavy consumption of alcohol for the last two weeks and drinking on empty stomach before coming to the airport.”
That description matches the story the man allegedly told eyewitnesses Supot Kornpasitwattana and Ekarat Seefa, to whom we spoke yesterday.
The airport representative declined to give information as to specific treatment the man received as it would be an “invasion of the patient’s privacy.”
They added that while the clinic offered to take him to a hospital, the passenger refused. He was not, however, allowed to board his flight.
“He said OK and left the airport,” they said. “We believe he used another mode of transportation to get to his destination.”
When asked if Airport of Thailand (AOT) — a public company that manages six of Thailand’s international airports (including Don Mueang) and currently the world’s most-valuable airport operator, according to Bloomberg — was going to release a statement, the special activities representative said no.
“If he got to the airport and the ceiling fell on him, we’d issue a statement,” they said. “However, this is an individual’s condition. The airport has nothing to do with it, directly.”
In response to the myriad alarmed netizens who inquired about medical support available at Don Mueang after Supot’s Facebook post, the airport representative said there are two medical clinics at the airport.
The “fully-staffed” Medical Center Clinic located on the first floor of Terminal One is open on weekdays from 8am-5pm. While Samitivej Clinic, where the man from Sunday’s incident was taken, is located on the third floor opposite the information desk and is open during the hours the Medical Center Clinic is closed.
The ill passenger, meanwhile, found Supot on Facebook yesterday, reaching out to him via private message to thank him for his assistance and assure him he is “all better now.”
“His profile shows he has two cute kids and a wife,” Supot told Coconuts Bangkok this morning. “I’m glad he is better now.”
