PUBLISHED ONApril 21, 2026 3:20 AMBYDana LeongA tourist alleges that he "almost went blind" after being sprayed with a high-pressure water gun during Songkran Festival celebrations in Bangkok.
Joseph Pedrajas, a tourist from the Philippines, took to social media platform TikTok on Saturday (April 18) and shared his 4-minute video recounting his experience at the water festival.
It had been the second day of the festival, which began on April 13, and Pedrajas was engaged in a water fight with someone when he retaliated with a high-pressure water gun.
"Water directly hit my left eye and I got blinded. I didn't see anything for 30 seconds," he said, adding that it was "pitch dark" at the time.
In the three minutes after, Pedrajas said that his vision was "really blurry" and that his friends used mineral water to wash his eye.
He became worried after finding out that his eye was bleeding, and proceeded to get medical assistance from the first aid truck in Silom where the medical attendants applied sodium chloride to his eye.
Pedrajas also recalled seeing black dots in his vision at night, known as floaters, which prompted him to visit an eye hospital the next day.
The doctor attending to him diagnosed him with a retinal hemorrhage, meaning that there was bleeding in his eye tissue.
He was subsequently referred to a retinal specialist, who was only available two days later.
Meanwhile, Pedrajas continued attending Songkran events while waiting to see the specialist, but made sure to cover his eyes with glasses.
"It was really traumatising," he said, adding that he actively avoided people carrying high-pressure water guns.
During his visit to the retinal specialist, the doctor found that there was blood in his eye, but that there were no tears and that he would not need surgery.
"Moral lesson is get insurance and wear glasses all throughout," he said.
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