A man who saved his wife by pushing her off their motorcycle before a fatal collision was identified Saturday as a Camp Pendleton Marine.

“He is so selfless that he pushed me off the motorcycle before we hit the bottom of the embankment. I miss my best friend, my soulmate, my everything,” said his wife, in a post on social media.

Promlikhit Khamkhong, 27, was riding a motorcycle with his wife seated beside him late Thursday near Lower Otay Lake, when they careened off a curve on westbound Otay Lakes Road and plunged down a steep embankment, according to the medical examiner’s office.

In a post on Instagram, Khamkhong’s wife, Carolina, said she was “heartbroken” and “in disbelief.”

“Last night I lost my husband in a motorcycle accident,” she wrote under a photo of the couple with their pre-teen son.

Khamkhong was pronounced dead just before 10:30 p.m Thursday after crashing near Otay Lakes Road, just east of Wueste Road, said medical examiner officials. Authorities said the cause of death was blunt-force injuries to his spine near the base of his skull and to his upper back.

I don’t know where to start. I am so heartbroken, in disbelief. Last night I lost my husband in a motorcycle accident. He is so selfless that he pushed me off the motorcycle before we hit the bottom of the embankment. I miss my best friend, my soulmate, my everything. Little laude and I are so lost. We miss you so much. I re live the accident in my head. I couldn’t find you, I was calling out for you but I couldn’t hear you. I know I had to get help so I climbed up the hill, I kept falling but I needed help to find you. I am so grateful that after 5 minutes of cars driving by and not stopping, someone finally did. But it was too late. I miss you so much baby I want to wake up from this nightmare. I can’t stop crying, my heart is aching. RIP baby, you’ll forever be in our hearts.

A post shared by carolina ︎ khamkhong (@jln_24) on

“Unable to find (Khamkhong), his wife was able to crawl back up to the roadway and flagged down a passing motorist for help,” medical examiner’s officials said.

Carolina recounted the crash and the aftermath.

“I couldn’t find you, I was calling out for you but I couldn’t hear you,” she wrote. “I know I had to get help so I climbed up the hill, I kept falling but I needed help to find you. I am so grateful that after five minutes of cars driving by and not stopping, someone finally did. But it was too late.”

The medical examiner’s office said emergency crews found Khamkhong unresponsive and showing no signs of life, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

An online photograph from 2014 identified Khamkhong as a hospital corpsman, Petty Officer 3rd Class, with the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. The infantry battalion, nicknamed “Darkhorse,” is based at Camp Pendleton.

The battalion’s informal Facebook group “The Boys of 3/5,” posted a link to a story about Khamkhong’s death and said: “Sadly, we have lost Darkhorse Devil Doc, Promlikhit Khamkhong, in a motorcycle accident. Rest easy.”

— City News Service

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