Briton raped in Thailand

The woman was on holiday on the island of Phuket

A Scottish woman has been raped while on holiday in Thailand, the Foreign Office said on Saturday.

The 23-year-old student - thought to come from Larkhall in Lanarkshire - reported that she had been attacked on the island of Phuket.

Local newspaper reports say police are conducting a major manhunt after being ordered by the head of Thailand's police to arrest the man within a week.

Those reports also say the victim was taken to a cemetery and raped on Tuesday during the annual Vegetarian Festival.

Police issued an artist's impression of the attacker

The Phuket Gazette reported that the attacker had been wearing the traditional white clothing popular with celebrants during the festival.

The white clothing is associated with the festival's undertone of purity, moral behaviour and sexual abstinence.

A sketch of the attacker has been issued from a description given by the victim.

The assailant was said to be between 20 and 25 years old, and of a strong, solid build.

Police said the description closely matched that of a man listed in police records, and who has already served time in jail for rape.

Briton became lost

"We have 50 officers out in every corner of the island trying to locate the man," Chalit Thinthanee, Superintendent of Phuket Town Police Station, told the Gazette.

The victim was on holiday with her boyfriend and had walked into town on her own to watch a fire-walking ceremony at a local shrine as part of the Vegetarian Festival.

Her boyfriend stayed in their hotel because he was ill.

The Gazette reported that the victim became lost on her way back to the hotel and was offered help by a Thai man on a motorbike.

The victim had been watching local festivities

But instead of taking her to the hotel, the man took her to a dark corner in a Chinese cemetery.

"She defended herself, but the man forced her to take off her clothes.

"He punched her on the chin once and then several times in the stomach before raping her," Captain Nakorn Sangthong of the Tourist Police is reported as saying.

The attacker then refused the victim's pleas to be taken to somewhere with lights or access to a street.