BANGKOK, Oct 19 — A 19-year-old British national who vanished from Pattaya has been found alive in a remote part of western Thailand after spending two weeks lost in the jungle, surviving on ants and tree bark, Khaosod English reported.

The teenager, identified as Lawrence, was discovered on October 11 at Tham Kaew Sawan Bundan Temple in Kanchanaburi’s Sangkhla Buri district, near the Thai-Myanmar border. 

His rescue was coordinated by local residents, the One Sky Foundation, and military authorities.

The search began on September 27 after Thai-Myanmar border forces were alerted to his disappearance by Sangkhla Buri police. 

His mother, Kulnara, had filed a missing person’s report in Pattaya a day earlier, fearing her son may have been tricked into crossing into Myanmar.

The Lad Ya Task Force led extensive ground and aerial searches, circulating missing person flyers at border checkpoints and liaising with Myanmar’s military units as well as ethnic armed groups, including the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).

By early October, then-Kanchanaburi governor Athisan Intara ordered intensified search operations, including reviewing CCTV footage from hotels and roads near the border after multiple sightings.

Their efforts finally paid off when villagers spotted Lawrence and raised the alarm. Soldiers from the Surasee Task Force later escorted him to hospital for a medical check-up.

Lawrence told investigators he had travelled from Bangkok to Sangkhla Buri intending to visit the border town of Payathonzu in Myanmar. 

When immigration officers told him the crossing was closed, he decided to explore nearby on foot.

While walking along a roadside, three men offered to help him find a place to stay and took him to a local resort. 

Unable to afford a room, he left and wandered into a rubber plantation — and never found his way out.

“It was already dark, so I got lost and couldn’t find my way out for 14 days. 

“During that time, I survived by eating ants and tree bark,” he told officials.

He was eventually found exhausted and hungry but alive, and given food and care at the temple before being reunited with authorities.

His mother expressed immense relief at the news, saying she hoped to reunite with her son soon.