Lt Atphong Saenjaiwutti of the Krabi Tourist Police was notified of the incident, at the cliffs of Railay Beach 2, within the Hat Nopparat Thara – Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, at 3pm on Tuesday (June 27).
Lt Atphong, along with a rescue team, national park staff and Dr Yingyong Themsinsakul of the First Standard Clinic in nearby Ao Nang were soon dispatched to render assistance.
Joining the rescue party were soldiers from the 4th Infantry Battalion and marines.
The tourist was identified as Eduardo Keane, 24, from Miami Beach, Florida, who was found unconscious with several wounds on his body and face.
His face had suffered severe injuries with a collapsed right cheekbone, a 10cm cut under the chin and blood flowing through his nose.
Mr Keane was taken by speedboat then ambulance to the First Standard Clinic in Ao Nang, from where he was later transferred to Krabi Hospital in Krabi Town.
At last report Mr Keane was in the ICU and remains in serious condition.
According to initial reports by police, Mr Keane was climbing to the Railay Beach Lagoon viewpoint without any climbing gear when he plunged down the cliff.
Officers will investigate further once he is fit to communicate, said police.
Mr Keane’s accident follows an Austrian man and an Argentinian woman being hospitalised for injuries sustained in a fall whilst climbing a cliff between Ao Ton Sai and Ao Pai Plong, just north of Railay Beach, on June 14. (See story here).