NEW YORK — It was supposed to be a relaxing break at a friendly southern Thailand beach resort for Ms Hannah Gavios, an adventurous 23-year-old New Yorker on a three-day leave from her job teaching English in Vietnam.

Within hours of her arrival last Thursday (Sept 1), the break turned into a nighttime sexual assault by a Thai stranger who had volunteered to guide Ms Gavios to her hotel, the Chill Out Bar & Bungalow in Railay Bay, Krabi, a popular hangout for young foreigners.

“I was a little suspicious,” Ms Gavios, of Bayside, Queens, said on Wednesday, recounting the attack by telephone from her hospital bed in Phuket, Thailand. She underwent emergency spinal surgery there after she was rescued last Friday in Krabi, several hours away by boat. “But I was tired and wanted to get home.”

Ms Gavios said she punched her attacker in the face, bit off part of his ear and ran through the darkness in a failed attempt to escape, falling off a 150-foot (45.7m) cliff and fracturing her spine.

She then spent hours yelling for help in the darkness, she said, while her assailant searched for her with his cellphone flashlight. He then alternated between praying for her, masturbating and groping her as she lay on a rock, unable to move.

“I felt like nothing,” she said. “I almost gave up.”

“He was crying, he was apologetic,” Ms Gavois said, but he also shouted “no, no” when she yelled for help. Finally in the predawn hours, she said, he left, and returned with a few other Thai men, who helped move her before a medical rescue team arrived.

Her parents, Aaron and Gwen Gavios, flew from New York to Phuket after she called them from the hospital.

The attack is the latest in a series of high-profile crimes in Thailand’s tourist destinations since the military seized power in May 2014. Two British backpackers were murdered in September 2014 on Koh Tao, an island in the Gulf of Thailand. In February, four French tourists were assaulted on Koh Kut, including two women who were raped.

Nonetheless, the attacks have not diminished tourist interest in Thailand. After falling in 2014 during a year of political turmoil, tourist arrivals in the country rose to nearly 30 million last year and could reach at least 32 million this year, according to government data.

The Phuket Gazette quoted the police as saying that Apai Ruangwong, 28, had admitted to attacking Ms Gavios and had been charged with obscene behaviour and causing serious injury.

Ms Gavios said she had been assured that her attacker would spend years in prison. But details about his prosecution and trial remained unclear on Wednesday.

Also unclear was her prognosis. She remains partly paralysed and cannot walk.

Ms Gavios’ parents said she always had been brave and undaunted. “She’s an extremely resilient girl,” her mother said. THE NEW YORK TIMES