Sydney man’s Thailand holiday horror as truck crushes foot

A Sydney man’s island holiday turned into a nightmare after a truck slammed into his moped and crushed his foot, leaving him screaming in agony.

A Sydney man is fighting to save his foot after he was involved in a horrific accident while holidaying in Thailand.

Julius Grauls, 29, a Belgian charity worker living in Australia, was riding a moped with his friend Shrey Sharma, 28, through Koh Phangan, an island in southeast Thailand, when the pair were struck by a truck.

The truck was driving alongside the pair’s moped on their left when it suddenly turned right, failing to indicate.

As a result, the vehicle slammed into the bike, crushing Julius’ his right foot.

He was only one week into his two-holiday when the horror accident took place.

Julius was rushed to hospital and now faces the possibility of never walking again. His friend Shrey also sustained injuries, but not as severe as Julius’.

“As soon as it hit, we both fell and Julius’ leg got stuck under the tyre,” Shrey told news.com.au of the accident on Monday.

Julius Grauls, 29, a Belgian charity worker living in Sydney, was one week into a two-week Thailand trip when a truck slammed into his moped.

“He pulled it back out and it was in a really bad condition.”

Shrey said Julius’ foot was open with the bones and nerves exposed.

“His foot was basically hanging off.”

The pair screamed for help and after about 10 minutes Julius was taken 100 metres up the road to a nearby hospital.

“But that is where the disaster happened,” Shrey said.

“Because the hospital was really small they just cleaned it and put a bandage around it.”

Shrey said his friend wasn’t sedated and was screaming in agony, so much so he had to leave the hospital room.

“They told us he needs to be taken to another hospital as they don’t have enough resources to do surgeries.”

Julius’ foot got stuck under the truck’s tyre and when he pulled it out, it was ‘basically hanging off’ with his bones and tendons exposed. Picture: GoFundMe

They paid the hospital a $1700 fee and forked out a further $12,000 deposit for Julius to be taken to Bangkok Hospital in Koh Samui, where he was transferred by boat.

Shrey said it was at least five hours before they arrived at the hospital as they refused to accept him until payment was made in full.

“They cleaned everything again and put rods externally to make sure his foot is in the right position,” Shrey said.

His Aussie friends are trying to raise money to help save his foot with medical expenses upwards of $120,000.

Shrey said they are yet to hear from the truck driver’s insurance company and while Julius has insurance for Australia, he only took out Covid insurance as he didn’t think he would need more protection given it was going to be a short trip.

Julius has since been transferred to a government hospital as the pair couldn’t afford the $4,000 daily fee at the Koh Samui hospital.

Julius is currently in a government hospital where they can’t give him anymore morphine and can only clean the wound.

“Right now we’re trying to get him to Bangkok or Belgium to do all the surgeries but we have been quoted $120,000 including hiring a private plane to get him there.”

Shrey said Julius needs several operations to give him any fighting chance at saving his foot.

The young Belgian man moved to Australia four years ago where he works as a fundraiser for charity organisations all over the world.

And now his Aussie friends are racing to help save his foot, starting a GoFundMe to cover the more than $120,000 in medical and transportation costs.

“Julius spends his career raising funds for charities all over the world, and this time he needs all the help,” they wrote on the fundraising page.

“Without this surgery, he could lose his foot and may not be able to walk. Please look in your heart to see if you can give anything to help.

“Every dollar counts. He is currently stuck in Thailand with no family there to help him in this time.”