A high-flying energy company CEO who worked with a string of businesses in London has been killed while kite surfing in Thailand.

Brendan Gustaaf Wauters, 55, was riding the powerful waves around Prachuap Khiri Khan province when he was dragged towards the base of a cliff on January 12.

He is believed to have been slammed into the rocks and suffered severe head injuries before losing consciousness.

Brendan's worried family called the emergency services when he failed to return later that day. His body was eventually found face down on a remote inlet on Khao Kalok Beach.

Rescue teams spotted blood pouring from his skull but they had to wait for the sea to settle before waded through the water. Tragically, it was too late to save Brendan and he was pronounce dead at the scene.

Paramedic Promsing Singhaseni said: 'We flew the drone around several times to find a suitable angle for rescue, but the victim stayed in the same position for hours. The biggest hurdle was that the waves were very strong, making it impossible to reach him.

'Normally, if the waves were weaker, a boat would have been dispatched to rescue him.'

The officers waited for the tide to recede before rowing into the area to collect his body.

Brendan's mother and his Thai wife burst into tears as rescuers arrived to the shore carrying his lifeless corpse. Officials said his mother had travelled to Thailand two days earlier to see him.

They said that Brendan, who was originally from Brussels, had worked in the City of London as the CEO of a number of high-profile energy companies. He had later worked in finance for a company based in Singapore.

Brendan's wife told police that her husband's hobby was kite surfing and he was 'very experienced'. She said he had taken up the extreme sport to relax away from the rigors of the corporate world.

She said: 'He was familiar with the conditions. I don't know what went wrong. He was very experienced and loved kite surfing.'

Another volunteer, Ponrop Meesaming, said he had seen blood streaming from Brendan's body into the sea during the aerial survey.

He added: 'There were severe wounds on his head and face. The injuries had likely caused his death.'

One rescue crew member, British man Tim Acton, who had also participated in the dramatic rescue of the Wild Boars football team from the flooded Tham Luang Cave in 2018, suffered minor injuries to his foot during the operation.

The Thai Meteorological Department on January 10 had warned of increased rainfall, strong winds, and high waves in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea over the weekend. It said the northeast monsoon and a strong high-pressure system from China will churn up waves of up to 13 feet.