This is the heartwarming moment a hero Swiss driver was thanked by a teenage girl whose life he saved in a motorcycle crash in Thailand last year.

The Swiss expat, who the family have affectionately named 'Mr Tom', was driving along a highway in Buriram province when he saw the two-wheeler slam into a pickup truck on September 2.

He performed life-saving first aid on the severely injured girl Piyatida Hongpimthong, 15, who was lying in the middle of the road in a pool of blood. He cleared her airways to keep her from choking on her own blood before accompanying her in the ambulance to the hospital.

Piyatida lost sight in her left eye. After recovering from her injuries weeks later, she and her mother, Rattanaporn Laosuna, 46, sought out the Swiss man to thank him. They learned this month that he was married to a Thai woman and was living in Buriram province.

Footage shows the mother and daughter speaking with the Good Samaritan through a video call on February 8.

A beaming Rattanaporn thanked Tom profusely.

She said: 'I have to thank you with all my heart for sending my child to the hospital. I wish you only the best.

'No matter what you do, I hope you will encounter only good things. May you become richer, have good health, and a prosperous business. What you have given to use has no monetary value.'

Tom flashed a thumbs up in response, saying: 'I'm happy she's ok.'

Recounting her near-death experience, Piyatida added: 'My friend driving the motorcycle turned toward me to talk, but she hit the back of the pickup truck. I lost consciousness and when I woke up, I was already at the Khaendong Hospital.

'I wouldn't be alive today without Mr Tom's help. The ambulance took a long time to arrive, and experts said I could have died if the blood blocking my nose and mouth hadn't been cleared.'

The girl, now sporting a patch on her left eye, said she is determined to return to school without feeling embarrassed about her disfigured face.

She said: 'How can I not fight to live when someone worked so hard to save my life?'

Piyatida's family said they tried negotiating with the pickup truck owner, but they claimed they only received 1,000 baht (23.65 GBP) in compensation. A settlement has not yet been reached, they said.

Despite being one of the wealthiest countries in Asia, Thailand suffers from chronic underinvestment in its highways and education, contributing to its poor road safety levels. Only a handful of African countries are worse.

Ministers have set the goal of reducing fatalities from 32.7 deaths per 100,000 people to 12 per 100,000 people by the year 2027.