Brit backpacker, 21, who couldn’t swim drowns after being dragged underwater by river currents while ‘tubing’ in Cambodia
Steven Griffiths had been travelling around Asia since January and had worked as a barman at a tourist resort before meeting up with pals
A BRITISH backpacker who could not swim drowned in Cambodia yesterday after being dragged underwater while using an inflatable rubber ring.
Steven Griffiths, 21, had been travelling around Asia since January and had worked as a barman at a tourist resort before meeting up with pals.
Yesterday he drank coffee with friends at breakfast before they jumped in the river, splashing around with inflatables used for "tubing" activities.
Steven is understood to have slipped through the rubber ring and was pulled under the surface. Witnesses said he desperately waved his arms for help until they could only see his hands sticking out of the water.
Two staff members jumped in but could not stop him being swept away by the current outside the High Tide guesthouse in Kampot, southern Cambodia.
Steven’s anguished father, Steve, last night said he was "broken beyond words".
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The barman, of Weston Super Mare, Somerset, said: "Steven had a young brother and younger sister who absolutely adored him.
"They’re distraught, I’m distraught, his friends and work colleagues are. Everyone who knew him is devastated.
"How is someone supposed to come to terms with this? My son has just died, he was only 21. I can’t even process what has happened."
Steve added: "We had lost contact for a number of years after me and his mother separated. But he came back into my life and we were close, like any father and son.
"He couldn’t swim. What on earth he was doing in a river I don’t know. Even on holiday in Tenerife he would only go in the shallow end.
"Who the hell let him go in the water? What was he doing in that situation and why did nobody stop him? These are answers we’ll never know.
"Right now I can't accept that he just drowned like that, as he couldn't even swim.''
Friend Rowan Steele, who had been travelling with Steven, told police his friend had used the inflatable tubes a number of times before and "didn’t know why this happened this time''.
Locals said recent rain had swollen the river and made currents stronger than usual.
Tubing is a popular activity among tourists in South East Asia who use the rubber rings - similar to large tyre inner tubes - to float in rivers.
The hostel had a number of them available and a small bamboo raft attached by a rope for guests to sit on.
Police recovered Steven's body in the river near guesthouse. Locals lit candles and said prayers as he was brought to shore covered by a white sheet.
The Foreign ad Commonwealth Office said: "We are offering assistance to the family of a British man who has died in Cambodia, and are in contact with the Cambodian authorities."
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