British tourist on honeymoon in Phuket and Thai tourist who went to help him drown - they ignored red flags

[Iamfalang]

who went to help them drown............................  really?  I'm not seeing that part.    

[globerunner4]

I lived and swam at these beaches for many years and I’ve seen lifeguards save dozens of lives. I’ve also seen hundreds of tourists ignore warnings and talk ugly to the very people guarding their lives. It’s a senseless loss. RIP (No pun intended)

[sappersrest]

I have stayed  at this hotel a couple of times this year they do have trained life guards on the beach . There are plenty of notices  advising  people not to swim when the red flags are flying.

Also plenty of information in the guest rooms about the dangers

[Chongalulu]

26 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

5 hours ago, Dcheech said:

Phuket lifeguards are as effective as Uvalde policemen. Garf

Unless they got jetskis, I wouldn't try to rescue an adult in rough seas either.

 

Red flags & told not to enter ... oh well ... you can fix stupid

As a BSAC Dive leader you are trained that it is quite hazardous to attempt rescuing a panicking drowning man who could very well include you in his own fate,even when trained in the correct procedure ,which effectively involves a wrestling hold from behind around his neck - which makes him grab your arm stopping his arms from entangling/submerging you. I can understand a life guards reticence… 

20 years ago I swam in rough seas off karon beach (May) but I’m a strong swimmer/trained diver and was wearing mask snorkel and top  diving fins. It was still quite hairy…! 

[Headgame]

Call me cruel but I have no sympathy for reckless, stupid idiots who swim with red flags all over the beach. I also do not expect a low paid lifeguard to go and risk his life to save these reckless, stupid idiots. Just requires a tourist to have the absolute lowest level of common sense to understand when there is a red flag, stay the F out of the water. 

[gerritkaew]

I stay in Phuket for many yeas, Kata is a very dangerous place to swim, even when no red flags!!

 

 R.I.P Both... 

[Peterphuket]

6 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Phuket has bad rips

 

Only for strong swimmers

No, for many years everybody knows NOT to swim with a red flag.

And as far I know not only in Thailand.

[RichardColeman]

5 hours ago, gearbox said:

The rip does not drag you down. If one can swim kilometers and knows how to get out of a rip it would be ok.

i imagine swimming kilometers from the beach would considerable grow your search area and lead to your death also !

[micmichd]

5 hours ago, stevenl said:

If you understand the story you'll see the Thai tourist was in the water swimming already.

Is that an excuse to act like lemmings? 5

[Superphoenix]

6 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Oh well, they won't do that again. 

 

Lots of people these days not listening to authorities. 

The pandemic identified this issue. 

 

Many tourists are slightly drunk and simply did not see the red flags. How can it be that another tourist helps the drowning man faster than the lifeguard who said he was there and warned them? 
Did he? was he really there and ready? Cmon… “the pandemic” identified „this“ issue…  seriously? Lol 

[Ginner]

6 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

Yes, it says it all when a Thai tourist responds quicker than the trained lifeguards on duty.

Or perhaps the lifeguards are instructed to not enter the water when the red flags are flying?

The Life guard had warned  about the dangers and told the tourist not to enter the sea. The tourist chose to ignore that warning. Most foreigners assume Thais know nothing about their own country. The person who went to help proved the guard was right in not attempting to rescue the tourist as it would have resulted in 3 fatalities. First rule of rescue: only go if safe for you to do so. In this case the guard obeyed the rule.

 

[stevenl]

6 hours ago, MrJ2U said:

"Red flags up over lack of lifeguards on Phuket beaches"

 

https://www.ttgasia.com/2018/03/27/red-flags-up-over-lack-of-lifeguards-on-phuket-beaches/

 

"Phuket’s haphazard lifeguard coverage flamed, comprehensive plan blanked"

 

https://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-haphazard-lifeguard-coverage-flamed-comprehensive-plan-blanked-67204.php

Why do you think a 4 year old article has any relevance to the present situation?

[stevenl]

43 minutes ago, micmichd said:

Is that an excuse to act like lemmings? 5

That's a correction of another poster.

[richard_smith237]

6 hours ago, Dcheech said:

Phuket lifeguards are as effective as Uvalde policemen. Garf

Exactly... 

 

OK... so there were red flags, and (supposedly) the lifeguards warned the tourist not to swim. 

 

Then another Thai person (55 yr old Surasit) spotted the British tourist in trouble and helped, tragically sealing his own fate. 

 

What on earth were the lifeguards doing at this time ??? - they knew it was dangerous, told the British Guy (Ali Mohammed Mian) not to swim and then forgot about him and didn’t even watch him in the sea ???

 

It would appear these lifeguards don’t think they need to ‘observe’ people entering the water.

 

------

 

Clearly the sea state in Phuket at this time of year is risky, there have been so many reports of people getting into trouble... this year it seems to have gained more attention. 

 

Are we to see a knee-jerk reaction from authorities ???.... Ban tourists from swimming in the sea  ???

 

 

[KhunLA]

1 hour ago, nchuckle said:

As a BSAC Dive leader you are trained that it is quite hazardous to attempt rescuing a panicking drowning man who could very well include you in his own fate,even when trained in the correct procedure ,which effectively involves a wrestling hold from behind around his neck - which makes him grab your arm stopping his arms from entangling/submerging you. I can understand a life guards reticence… 

20 years ago I swam in rough seas off karon beach (May) but I’m a strong swimmer/trained diver and was wearing mask snorkel and top  diving fins. It was still quite hairy…! 

I stepped off into a rip at Kata Beach ... first thing that came to mind 'how stupid are you?'

 

Actually even dumber, I powered through back to the stand-able sand, instead of out of, though turned out to be a good thing.  Tuckered my dumb a$$ out, but ... Look behind me, and 2 damsel in distress, F'me ... yep, back in ????

[richard_smith237]

56 minutes ago, Headgame said:

Call me cruel but I have no sympathy for reckless, stupid idiots who swim with red flags all over the beach. I also do not expect a low paid lifeguard to go and risk his life to save these reckless, stupid idiots. Just requires a tourist to have the absolute lowest level of common sense to understand when there is a red flag, stay the F out of the water. 

Then they should not be called ‘Life guards’....  Call them beach sitters or whatever, but do not provide the public with the idea that the beaches are patrolled for their safety. 

 

Lifeguards are supposedly strong swimmers and have equipment to aid with a rescue. 

 

That said - you make a valid point, why should a life-guard risk his life when people ignore a clear warning sign. If the flags were ‘red and yellow’ indicating patrolled beach, then one would expect the lifeguards to be able to do their job. 

 

That said: The lifeguards were clearly prepared to go out and fetch the unconscious swimmers, so they had the equipment and the swimming ability. What is clearly missing is their observational skills in failing to recognise the swimmers getting into trouble early enough. 

 

 

[pattayahenry]

6 hours ago, gearbox said:

The rip does not drag you down. If one can swim kilometers and knows how to get out of a rip it would be ok.

A rip is like a strong river, starting at the beach, going outside, often only 30 or 50m wide, you swim right or left out of this river, not more than 100meter, then back to beach

[ThailandRyan]

12 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Why do you think a 4 year old article has any relevance to the present situation?

Have things really changed over that period of time with the funding and so on of the Lifeguards?

[gearbox]

47 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

i imagine swimming kilometers from the beach would considerable grow your search area and lead to your death also !

It is all relative. People should know their limits and stay well below them. The limits can be raised with skills and training. In rough seas just knowing to swim is not enough, you need swimming with "thrust" to be able to get out of rips and other dangers. That involves pretty good freestyle swimming. My purely speculative measure would be if you can do 100m freestyle between 120-150 seconds you would be ok to get out of a rip and come back.

 

The rough monsoon seas in Phuket and Samui would be regarded as pretty calm in Australia where one can get thundering waves and fast rips. They won't warrant red flag there.

 

Last year I was at Kata beach and swam to Ko Put and back easily, this is close to 2.5 km return. Of course not to be attempted during rough seas.

 

 

[Aussieroaming]

Get into a rip then the best thing to do is relax and go with the flow and slowly work your way out until it spits you out. I can't count the number of times that I ended up in a rip and found myself out the back of the sets and had to swim back in until I could catch a wave. A fact of life growing up on beaches in Australia if you are body surfing or body noarding.

 

A lot of tourists panic because they are afraid of getting dragged out but swimming against a rip is like swimming against the current in a river (pointless). I understand that fear though if you aren't used to it or maybe aren't a stronger swimmer. Fear is hard to overcome sometimes.

 

RIP to those that perished

[portlandtree]

7 hours ago, kcpattaya said:

What a nonsense!
...They survive perhaps 30 seconds longer before any rip current will drag them down

drag you down you mean drag you outwards thats why you dont fight it but go side ways to get out of the rip

 

[Mywayboy]

7 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Phuket has bad rips

 

Only for strong swimmers

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

[portlandtree]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

i imagine swimming kilometers from the beach would considerable grow your search area and lead to your death also !

swim sideways to get out of the rip then shore wise

[Dont confuse me]

6 hours ago, gearbox said:

The rip does not drag you down. If one can swim kilometers and knows how to get out of a rip it would be ok.

The best way to survive a rip current is to stay afloat and yell for help. You can also swim parallel to the shore to escape the rip current. This will allow more time for you to be rescued or for you to swim back to shore once the current eases. Rip currents stay close to shore and usually break up just beyond the line of breaking waves. Occasionally, however, a rip current can push someone hundreds of yards offshore.

Don’t panic!

Continue to breathe, keep your head above water, and don’t exhaust yourself fighting the current.

You can usually see the signs of a rip current. Often there is an area on the beach where the waves are not breaking, but instead you see sandy water or the white foam of a current headed back out to sea, as is apparent in this image.

[portlandtree]

33 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Exactly... 

 

OK... so there were red flags, and (supposedly) the lifeguards warned the tourist not to swim. 

 

Then another Thai person (55 yr old Surasit) spotted the British tourist in trouble and helped, tragically sealing his own fate. 

 

What on earth were the lifeguards doing at this time ??? - they knew it was dangerous, told the British Guy (Ali Mohammed Mian) not to swim and then forgot about him and didn’t even watch him in the sea ???

 

It would appear these lifeguards don’t think they need to ‘observe’ people entering the water.

 

------

 

Clearly the sea state in Phuket at this time of year is risky, there have been so many reports of people getting into trouble... this year it seems to have gained more attention. 

 

Are we to see a knee-jerk reaction from authorities ???.... Ban tourists from swimming in the sea  ???

 

 

no but require us to wear life jackets

[PEE TEE]

7 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

Yes, it says it all when a Thai tourist responds quicker than the trained lifeguards on duty.

Or perhaps the lifeguards are instructed to not enter the water when the red flags are flying?

still be alive if were Bondi 

[Mansell]

People drown in England with rips in the sea. It’s basically a lack of education about being in the sea, especially in a rip. Even people on here stating “A rip drags you down” which it does not do. As a ex surfer rips can sometimes be your friend. Surfing in Morocco with a rip on one side of the beach. We’d surf in and paddle into the rip which took us out through waves very quickly, then we paddled out the side back into the lineup to surf in again. People in a rip tend to try to fight it and get tired because you cannot fight the rip, then they panic and drown. If they just floated in the rip it would carry them out at worst half a mile, then then they could float back in on the waves heading to the beach. Or just swim away from the beach angling out of the rip at a forty five degree angle, and it will push you out pretty quickly, probably around a couple of hundred yards from the beach….an easy swim. Sadly with no water knowledge they drown fighting it pretty quickly.

Remember an 18 year old lifeguard on a beach in Cornwall. Three people got into difficulty. He swam out and saved one, back out again and got the second, but by the time he reached the third one it was to late. Then this brave young man had to attend a coroners hearing and explain what happened. Extremely traumatic for him, and especially as he had lost one person. These days in Australia on some beaches they can send a flotation device out on a drone and drop it to the person in trouble, This allows the lifeguard time to get there on a board or jet ski.

[Bangkok Barry]

7 hours ago, Dcheech said:

Phuket lifeguards are as effective as Uvalde policemen. Garf

Not really. From the article:

And on Patong beach lifeguards saved three people. 

[cornishsteve]

I nearly lost my wife on karon beach due to undertow and rip, rogue wave bowled us both over but managed to keep hold of her, threw her into the next wave that took her to shore, then pushed off bottom, seam with rip for about 200 mtrs along beach until i could body surf back in. Frightened the c—p out of me and im an experianced sea swimmer

[Pinot]

No one got saved at Kamala Beach. Kamala Beach doesn't have lifeguards. If you want lifeguards you have to pay them. 

No one should swim at Kamala Beach. It's ridiculous that there are no lifeguards.