Paul Nicholls is “recovering well” and could return to the UK next week following a freak accident in Koh Samui, Thailand, a representative for the actor has said.
The former EastEnders star was discovered at the bottom of Khun Si falls by a rescue team after being trapped there for three days with a broken leg.
As reported in The Sun, Nicholls had fallen from the top of the waterfall in the jungle and was found after a local saw his abandoned rental motorbike.
Nicholls’s representative said: “Paul is recovering well and we hope to travel him back to the UK next week.”
The TV star, who recently appeared in Channel 4 drama series Ackley Bridge, had told the newspaper that he is “lucky to be alive”.
“I had a phone with me but I fell from such a height into the water it was unretrievable.
“It took such a long time to find me. It’s an understatement to say it wasn’t a great situation.
“It wasn’t that I was lost. The problem was I couldn’t move to get out of there.”
Nicholls said he is “missing a kneecap” which needs “complete reconstruction”.
In video footage obtained by The Sun, Nicholls is seen being carried out on a stretcher by an emergency team as he cries out in pain.
It was reported that surgery for his leg would cost in the thousands of pounds in Thailand, and that the British Embassy were keen for him to be flown to the mainland for the operation.
A spokesman for the British Embassy in Thailand said: “We are providing support to a British male injured in Koh Samui, Thailand, and remain in touch with local authorities.”
Nicholls rose to prominence playing Joe Wicks in BBC soap EastEnders from 1996 to 1997.
