Briton reportedly beaten for refusing to pay for lost camera in Vietnam Tourists row kayaks near Hang Toi at the Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park in Quang Binh Province, located in central Vietnam. Tuoi Tre Kelly Emma Kirsty will want to forget her October trip to a famous cave in central Vietnam, where she lost a camera and was allegedly assaulted for refusing to pay a ransom to take it back. The British tourist recounted her story on TripAdvisor, and warned other vacationers to watch their valuables because “they will rob you,” referring to the staff that work at the Hang Toi (Dark Cave) in Quang Binh Province. Hang Toi is one of the caves at the UNESCO-recognized Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park, and Kirsty said the trip would have been completely fine if she had not accidentally dropped her GoPro camera when getting out of the boat after a kayak tour. “The staff seemed so genuinely upset for me and the reception girls asked me to leave my personal details so they could contact me if one of their divers found the camera,” she wrote on TripAdvisor on October 3, apparently the same day as the incident. The tourist had almost forgotten all about the mishap and went back to her hostel, however an hour later she was notified that “the staff at the caves had found [her] camera and could drop it back to [her] at the hostel.” A strange man then arrived at the hostel and demanded she pay VND3.2 million (US$143) to have the camera back. “I felt really threatened by him and as a female traveler I was in two minds about what to do,” she recalled. Kirsty then questioned the man as to where he got the camera from and why he was demanding such a price, only to see him get “really irate and start shouting at [her].” The man claimed that the staff at Phong Nha caves had sold it to him and therefore the tourist had to pay the stated price. Kirsty said she would be more than happy to pay the diver a small fee and a tip for finding her camera, but the requested amount was extortionate considering it was her own camera. Shortly after the woman insisted that the amount was too much, the man started attacking her by “throwing me against a wall twice, ripping my top off of me and raising his fist at me.” The British tourist eventually had to beg the man to get off her, which he only accepted after being paid the full amount of money he had demanded. “He left me with cuts and bruises,” she said. When Kirsty later checked her GoPro, she found many selfie photos of the men who had allegedly picked up the device. “I later discovered that the times recorded on the GoPro photos proved that they had recovered the camera when I was still at the caves,” she said. Tour guide threatening tourist? Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper decided to look into the case after reading Kirsty’s story on TripAdvisor. Two correspondents came to Phong Nha – Ke Bang on Thursday, and found that the man who was accused of demanding money and attacking the tourist is Nguyen Manh Hung, a tour guide at the Phong Nha Farmstay tourist attraction. Hung was taking a group of tourists around the attraction so Tuoi Tre contacted him on the phone. The tour guide said he was asked to buy the camera at VND3 million ($134) by Khanh, a staff member of the Phong Nha – Ke Bang tourist center. After checking the device, Hung found the information of Kirsty and contacted her to negotiate the return. But the tourist refused to pay money, saying the lost property had to be returned, not sold, to its owner, Hung recalled. “I paid for the camera so I had to get back my money, but the female tourist declined to pay,” Hung said. “She then grabbed the camera, put it into her backpack and zipped it.” Hung admitted that when he was trying to get back the camera, the tourist “did fall onto the ground.” The tour guide also said he had taken some of the photos left in the camera. “I also have faults in this case,” he said. However, Khanh, whom Hung said he had bought the camera from, asserted to Tuoi Tre that he had not sold the device to the tour guide. Khanh was diving to look for a lost hat when he found the camera under the water. “I later gave it to Hung, without saying I wanted to sell the device to him,” he said. Hung came back the other day and insisted on paying VND2 million ($90) for the camera, Khanh said. “He kept on paying so I eventually accepted the money, which he said included VND1.5 million for my diving effort and VND500,000 as a bonus.” Hoang Hai Van, deputy director of the Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park, confirmed to Tuoi Tre that Khanh is one of the staff members at the Phong Nha – Ke Bang tourist center. “We will summon all relevant people to clarify the case,” he said. “Hung should have reported the case to us as per regulations, and his behavior to the tourist is unacceptable.” TUOI TRE NEWS