Chinese tourists rescued from Phuket surf die in hospital

By The Phuket News

 

Chinese tourist Dong Xuyan, 42, from Hebei, in northern China, passed away at Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket Town last Thursday (Nov 14). Photo: The Phuket News / file
 

PHUKET:-- Two Chinese tourists rescued from the water at Phuket beaches last week have died in hospital, police have confirmed.
 

Chinese tourist Dong Xuyan, 42, from Hebei, in northern China, passed away last Thursday (Nov 14), Capt Itthikorn Pacharadej of the Phuket Tourist Police confirmed to The Phuket News today (Nov 19).

 

Mr Dong was recovered from the water unresponsive at Nai Harn Beach last Tuesday (Nov 12).

Full Story: https://www.thephuketnews.com/chinese-tourists-rescued-from-phuket-surf-die-in-hospital-73684.php#t89v6Oai12dFLBgB.97

Surely Phuket must able to lay claim to being the world hub of death beaches for tourists.there maybe a lot of beaches that are far more dangerous and unswimmable but can anyone name a island that has more deaths than Phuket.

1 hour ago, happy chappie said:

Surely Phuket must able to lay claim to being the world hub of death beaches for tourists.there maybe a lot of beaches that are far more dangerous and unswimmable but can anyone name a island that has more deaths than Phuket.

Hainan

6 hours ago, Old Croc said:

Hainan

Had a flip on google and agree it is a dangerous island.very hard to put figures on it because of certain factors like how many people use the islands the beaches and other data.

At the same time Phuket should be ashamed of the poor safety record and what seems to be a lack of lifeguards that only come across as body recovery services rather than life savers.

If the surf don't get you, the hospital will!

getting to be enough for them to be able to re-film The Longest Day there!

So much hype from Government spokesmen pertaining to tourist safety yet still Phuket's beaches are inadequately equipped with lifeguards and safety equipment.

 

Nothing changes, it's just talk.

No colourful billboard with arrows to explain how this happened then

who will pay for the hosp???  Probably get added to the amount the govt. says they are stiffed (pun intended) for and then blame the expats retired here.

9 hours ago, happy chappie said:

Surely Phuket must able to lay claim to being the world hub of death beaches for tourists.there maybe a lot of beaches that are far more dangerous and unswimmable but can anyone name a island that has more deaths than Phuket.

No idea, in Australia 110 deaths from beach drownings.

2 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

If the surf don't get you, the hospital will!

Well that doesn't do well for the recent headline of Chinese coming to Thailand a medical tourists.

2 hours ago, madmitch said:

still Phuket's beaches are inadequately equipped with lifeguards and safety equipment

 

no need to do anything about this: In line with the governmental order to return to pristine beaches. Tourists taking a swim are solely at their own risk (and stupidity)

 

 

2 hours ago, madmitch said:

So much hype from Government spokesmen pertaining to tourist safety yet still Phuket's beaches are inadequately equipped with lifeguards and safety equipment.

 

Nothing changes, it's just talk.

There's no money in it for officials to have quality lifeguards, equipment and safety standards. Things would be different if there was a way to make money from keeping tourists from drowning.

The fact is that most Asians don't swim. I lived in Korea for several years teaching and our school was on a gorgeous beach and not one of the students or Korean staff could swim. Same in Laos, same in Thailand, it's no surprise so many drown there. Not to me anyway. 

No need for nanny lifeguard. People should be free to drown if they want to. 

As usual the North Eastern paddy field whingers are coming out to throw buffalo dung at Phuket. This time it's because a very small number of the 13 million yearly visitors to Phuket have managed to drown themselves on the beaches.

The actual truth about these drownings matters little to them in their haste to denigrate the Province so many seem to have an unreasonable hatred for.

A thinking person would look at drowning statistics in the main countries of origin and extrapolate those to the numbers of tourists flocking to Phuket's beaches.

Drownings account for most childhood accidental deaths in China. Many thousands die there every year in this way. Why would a beach holiday in a strange country in monsoon season be safer for suicidal non swimmers?

Granted the dearth, and training, of life guards on Phuket leaves a lot to be desired, but in the best practice countries of Australia and the US hundreds still drown every year.

Incidentally, once someone has had their lungs full of seawater, and they had to have their heart restarted, they rarely fully recover even in the best hospitals on the planet. The Swiss woman here who recently came out of a drowning coma surprised me.

1 hour ago, Oziex1 said:

Well that doesn't do well for the recent headline of Chinese coming to Thailand a medical tourists.

Could become euthanasia hub though

11 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

As usual the North Eastern paddy field whingers are coming out to throw buffalo dung at Phuket. This time it's because a very small number of the 13 million yearly visitors to Phuket have managed to drown themselves on the beaches.

The actual truth about these drownings matters little to them in their haste to denigrate the Province so many seem to have an unreasonable hatred for.

A thinking person would look at drowning statistics in the main countries of origin and extrapolate those to the numbers of tourists flocking to Phuket's beaches.

Drownings account for most childhood accidental deaths in China. Many thousands die there every year in this way. Why would a beach holiday in a strange country in monsoon season be safer for suicidal non swimmers?

Granted the dearth, and training, of life guards on Phuket leaves a lot to be desired, but in the best practice countries of Australia and the US hundreds still drown every year.

Incidentally, once someone has had their lungs full of seawater, and they had to have their heart restarted, they rarely fully recover even in the best hospitals on the planet. The Swiss woman here who recently came out of a drowning coma surprised me.

You are absolutely correct. The Thai beaches are dead easy to swim compared to say, Australia. I swim regularly open water around 150-200 metres inside the water alone, try this at the Oz beaches. A person who cannot swim is always in danger in open water,  sea or lake.

1 minute ago, gearbox said:

You are absolutely correct. The Thai beaches are dead easy to swim compared to say, Australia. I swim regularly open water around 150-200 metres inside the water alone, try this at the Oz beaches. A person who cannot swim is always in danger in open water,  sea or lake.

I would not be surprised if more people die in pool. If you can't swim you can drown in 30cm of water. Happened to a fishing kid when I was young. He got his feet stuck in a branch and panicked. 

2 hours ago, stevenl said:

No idea, in Australia 110 deaths from beach drownings.

Yes and probably not far off that in Phuket.the only difference is oz might be a wee bit bigger and have more visitors to the beaches.oh and let's not forget THE LIFEGUARDS in oz are lifeguards.

as with the roads the deaths will carry on.

Let's face it,the Chinese,the sea,Phuket have hardly got a good international reputation for safety or have some people forgot that one.

2 hours ago, Tayaout said:

No need for nanny lifeguard. People should be free to drown if they want to. 

No offence but the term nany lifeguard is rather innapropriate for the lifeguards all over the world ready to risk their own lives to save every people in danger at sea! 

(an ex lifeguard)

Keeps the knitting needles busy ey !

2 hours ago, Tayaout said:

I would not be surprised if more people die in pool. If you can't swim you can drown in 30cm of water. Happened to a fishing kid when I was young. He got his feet stuck in a branch and panicked. 

sorry, but what is a fishing kid?

Amazing, one would think that if delivered alive to a hospital, recovery would be almost ensured ! In U.K. and America they can even bring them back from the dead !

4 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Could become euthanasia hub though

 

doubt that since thailand is an ageing society

3 hours ago, happy chappie said:

Yes and probably not far off that in Phuket.the only difference is oz might be a wee bit bigger and have more visitors to the beaches.oh and let's not forget THE LIFEGUARDS in oz are lifeguards.

as with the roads the deaths will carry on.

 

oz has real surf and men in grey suits

5 hours ago, gearbox said:

You are absolutely correct. The Thai beaches are dead easy to swim compared to say, Australia. I swim regularly open water around 150-200 metres inside the water alone, try this at the Oz beaches. A person who cannot swim is always in danger in open water,  sea or lake.

And it must be said - a person who cannot swim fairly well and hasn't done their research into an area they've never visited before is an idiot!

Tides, (especially rip tides) and currents do exist and are not always obvious. Surf is very visible and should invite one to think carefully before going in.

And just because an area of water looks calm and inviting doesn't mean it's safe....CHECK FIRST!

I am with Happy Chappie on this one, as a former Australian volunteer lifeguard.

 

Very few people die in Australia on patrolled beaches.  You must also take into consideration that in Northern Australia people swim all year round, even in Sydney with a population of 5M, beaches are crowded for more than half the year, so any comparison on numbers between tiny Phuket, and the country with the largest coastline in the entire world is futile.  Add to that the fact that a lot of Australian beaches have heavy surf and notorious rips, you would expect Phuket to have a tiny fraction of national drownings in Australia.

 

Based on beach drownings only (not waterways or swimming pools), a huge number of drownings are visitors or new immigrants who have not been raised on beaches and get in trouble because they swim at uncontrolled beaches and are not aware of the dangers of rips and surf conditions.

 

Given this, Phuket beaches are incomparably more deadly than anything Australia has to offer.  

 

Chinese walk in the middle of the roads in thailand, and they also walk out into oceans that they are not familiar with.

 

their govt needs to educate them on the flight over to thailand that these are not safe activities for anyone.