A BOLTON actor who survived for three days alone in the Thai jungle after falling down a waterfall is recovering in hospital.

Former Eastenders star, Paul Nicholls, has been pictured giving a thumbs up from his hospital bed on the island of Koh Samui.

The 38-year-old plummeted down the rainforest waterfall and then survived for three days on nothing but stream water.

He was eventually rescued by volunteers after locals saw a scooter he had rented at the bottom of a track leading to the falls.

Mr Nicholls, who grew up in Sharples, smashed his kneecap and smashed his ribs when he fell down the Khun Si waterfall.

He was visited in hospital by Sitthip Poosongsook, the president of the association of Samui Spas, a group representing local health resorts.

He said that Mr Nicholls thanked the rescuers who found him, adding that if the authorities did not reach him he would 'surely have died'.