Englishman Dies In Phuket Boating Accident

[george]

Englishman dies in Phuket boating accident

Rescue workers transport Mr Corrigan's remains

from Chalong Pier to Vachira Phuket Hospital.

CHALONG, PHUKET: -- An Englishman died yesterday after the catamaran he was sailing in with two friends capsized off Koh Hei.

Chalong police identified the deceased as UK national Kevin Corrigan, a retired former employee of AIG Insurance.

One of the survivors, 67-year-old English expat Bill Dobbs, told the Gazette that he and Mr Corrigan left Chalong Bay in the catamaran owned by another man identified only as ‘Peter’ at about 9:30 yesterday morning.

They had lunch on Koh Hei, but on the return journey, sudden strong winds broke the catamaran's mast and caused the vessel to capsize.

All three men were thrown into the sea. Mr Dobbs and Peter swam to the surface, but Mr Corrigan never resurfaced.

The two men used Peter’s mobile phone, which had fortunately been kept in a waterproof bag, and phoned friends for help.

Within an hour, a speedboat reached the scene and brought the two survivors back to Rawai Pier.

Mr Corrigan’s body was later spotted by other speedboat operators who were ferrying Japanese tourists.

The speedboat operators were reluctant to pull a dead body aboard their boat and opted to radio the co-ordinates over the local marine band.

The sportfishing boat named Reely-Nauti, later came to collect Mr Corrigan’s body, which arrived at Chalong Pier at about 3pm.

Mr Dobbs, a seven-year resident of Phuket who lives in a villa at Friendship Beach, said Mr Corrigan was single and on a three-month trip around the world.

He arrived in Phuket, his first stop, about a month ago. He planned to leave Phuket on December 27 and travel to Ho Chi Minh City, where he had a Japanese girlfriend. From there he planned to visit Australia and Fiji before returning to England.

Mr Corrigan’s body is now at Vachira Phuket Hospital.

-- Phuket Gazette 2009-12-19

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[ratcatcher]

Accidents have a habit of happening anywhere at any time. Tragic? Yes. Preventable? Probably not.

Regardless, very sad and condolences to his family and friends wherever they may be..

[JetsetBkk]

Accidents have a habit of happening anywhere at any time. Tragic? Yes. Preventable? Probably not.

<snip>

No mention of life jackets in the article.

[Thongkorn]

Accidents have a habit of happening anywhere at any time. Tragic? Yes. Preventable? Probably not.

<snip>

No mention of life jackets in the article.

RIP, We all get over confident some times,

[britadders28]

Accidents have a habit of happening anywhere at any time. Tragic? Yes. Preventable? Probably not.

<snip>

No mention of life jackets in the article.

RIP, We all get over confident some times,

Yet another accident, more great news for the tourist trade!

[richard_smith237]

Accidents have a habit of happening anywhere at any time. Tragic? Yes. Preventable? Probably not.

<snip>

No mention of life jackets in the article.

RIP, We all get over confident some times,

Yet another accident, more great news for the tourist trade!

I can't see what this has to do with the tourist trade and what impact it could possibly have on it. It seems quite clear that this is simply a tragic accident.

[Chunkton]

Sailed all my life, dinghies, skiffs, yachts, windsurfers in the surf. When for fun no life jacket ever, when racing had to wear one.

You know sometimes accidents do happen and people sadly die, my genuine sympathy to the family. But can't see yet how this is in any way Thailand's fault. Why do we need to assign blame to everything?

Heard a psychologist years ago talking about how governments try to legislate safety into every aspect of our lives, however completely removing the aspect of danger was also removing something that is vital to our development. Look at the west now, except for soccer and green Neanderthals, a bunch of new age sensitive pussies, even the now oh so butch western women have bigger balls. Some PC correct here may take solace in that but I don't.

[angiud]

Look at the west now, except for soccer and green Neanderthals, a bunch of new age sensitive pussies, even the now oh so butch western women have bigger balls. Some PC correct here may take solace in that but I don't.

Wow

[animatic]

A shame, but boating accidents do happen world wide.

You can die in a life jacket also, luck of the draw, dragged under is still drowned,

even with flotation, but the jacket ups your chances, when water is right there to fall into.

People die daily in bathrooms worldwide too. Life is a dangerous activity.

My condolences to the family and friends.

[Scott]

My condolences to the friends and family.

[Scott]

My condolences to the friends and family.

[crusty]

Accidents have a habit of happening anywhere at any time. Tragic? Yes. Preventable? Probably not.

<snip>

No mention of life jackets in the article.

More details please. What type of catamaran, beach cat or larger, if latter, what name boat ?

[hearditallbefore]

Accidents have a habit of happening anywhere at any time. Tragic? Yes. Preventable? Probably not.

<snip>

No mention of life jackets in the article.

RIP, We all get over confident some times,

"we"? u got a mouse in your pocket?

[mrdome]

Look at the west now, except for soccer and green Neanderthals, a bunch of new age sensitive pussies, even the now oh so butch western women have bigger balls. Some PC correct here may take solace in that but I don't.

Thank you for saying that people who care about the environment have balls.

[DegenFarang]

The most surprising part of this story is that it saw the light of day. So many of these go unreported, I think by subtle (or not-so-subtle) pressure from the Thai Government, for fear of hurting tourism.

I was on Koh Phangan earlier this month and a young farang tourist died on Haad Rin beach while severely intoxicated and urinating in shallow water on the beach. He passed out and drowned with hundreds of people dancing 20 yards a way - noone noticed until it was too late. A huge gathering of farang were standing in the spot where he died for a long time and everybody there was shocked and talking about it.

Then the next day we asked around at the local shops if there were any more details - nobody had heard anything about it. I searched online at all of the places where something like that would be reported for days and nothing. It was like the medics just pulled him off the scene, stuffed him in a body bag, told his friends to get the body bag off the island and then closed the case.

Somebody should start deadfarang.com and keep track of this sort of thing...

[MrJohnson]

The most surprising part of this story is that it saw the light of day. So many of these go unreported, I think by subtle (or not-so-subtle) pressure from the Thai Government, for fear of hurting tourism.

I was on Koh Phangan earlier this month and a young farang tourist died on Haad Rin beach while severely intoxicated and urinating in shallow water on the beach. He passed out and drowned with hundreds of people dancing 20 yards a way - noone noticed until it was too late. A huge gathering of farang were standing in the spot where he died for a long time and everybody there was shocked and talking about it.

Then the next day we asked around at the local shops if there were any more details - nobody had heard anything about it. I searched online at all of the places where something like that would be reported for days and nothing. It was like the medics just pulled him off the scene, stuffed him in a body bag, told his friends to get the body bag off the island and then closed the case.

Somebody should start deadfarang.com and keep track of this sort of thing...

Drunk farang drowns urinating in shallow water in Koh Phangan and the Thai Government conspires to hush up the story for fear of damaging tourism. Yes, I'm sure that kind of story would deter a lot of people from coming here. A very dangerous country indeed.

[neverdie]

The most surprising part of this story is that it saw the light of day. So many of these go unreported, I think by subtle (or not-so-subtle) pressure from the Thai Government, for fear of hurting tourism.

I was on Koh Phangan earlier this month and a young farang tourist died on Haad Rin beach while severely intoxicated and urinating in shallow water on the beach. He passed out and drowned with hundreds of people dancing 20 yards a way - noone noticed until it was too late. A huge gathering of farang were standing in the spot where he died for a long time and everybody there was shocked and talking about it.

Then the next day we asked around at the local shops if there were any more details - nobody had heard anything about it. I searched online at all of the places where something like that would be reported for days and nothing. It was like the medics just pulled him off the scene, stuffed him in a body bag, told his friends to get the body bag off the island and then closed the case.

Somebody should start deadfarang.com and keep track of this sort of thing...

Who cares, what do you want the Authorities to do, ban all parties on beaches, seriously stuff like that happens all around the world, I fail to understand what you are on about.

[Sisaketmike]

Accidents have a habit of happening anywhere at any time. Tragic? Yes. Preventable? Probably not.

<snip>

No mention of life jackets in the article.

More details please. What type of catamaran, beach cat or larger, if latter, what name boat ?

Let him rest in peace.

[sepia]

2009-12-19

CHALONG, PHUKET: -- An Englishman died yesterday after the catamaran he was sailing in with two friends capsized off Koh Hei.

Another day, another death.

On 2009-12-21, a Russian tourist,Ivan Zolotughin, drowned on the same Koh Hei.

[DegenFarang]

The most surprising part of this story is that it saw the light of day. So many of these go unreported, I think by subtle (or not-so-subtle) pressure from the Thai Government, for fear of hurting tourism.

I was on Koh Phangan earlier this month and a young farang tourist died on Haad Rin beach while severely intoxicated and urinating in shallow water on the beach. He passed out and drowned with hundreds of people dancing 20 yards a way - noone noticed until it was too late. A huge gathering of farang were standing in the spot where he died for a long time and everybody there was shocked and talking about it.

Then the next day we asked around at the local shops if there were any more details - nobody had heard anything about it. I searched online at all of the places where something like that would be reported for days and nothing. It was like the medics just pulled him off the scene, stuffed him in a body bag, told his friends to get the body bag off the island and then closed the case.

Somebody should start deadfarang.com and keep track of this sort of thing...

Who cares, what do you want the Authorities to do, ban all parties on beaches, seriously stuff like that happens all around the world, I fail to understand what you are on about.

You missed my point entirely. My problem is that so many farang deaths are not reported on by the news media - not that they happen in the first place. In my view any time a farang dies in this country it should at least merit a small story in the Bangkok Post and Nation. The fact that so many deaths do not get such reporting, in my view, is not due to the fact that they are not newsworthy - I think the Thai Government puts pressure on these and other publications not to report on all of the deaths - as well as on various institutions not to provide information about deaths to the media (hospitals, police etc).

Edited December 22, 2009 by DegenFarang

[steveromagnino]

You missed my point entirely. My problem is that so many farang deaths are not reported on by the news media - not that they happen in the first place. In my view any time a farang dies in this country it should at least merit a small story in the Bangkok Post and Nation. The fact that so many deaths do not get such reporting, in my view, is not due to the fact that they are not newsworthy - I think the Thai Government puts pressure on these and other publications not to report on all of the deaths - as well as on various institutions not to provide information about deaths to the media (hospitals, police etc).

The only time I saw this sort of pressure was during the Tsunami where numbers were definitely under reported.

With the large number of tourists, there is sadly a sadder side that comes with that; I do not believe that the lack of reporting is anything other than lack of newsworthiness in some cases. The local papers seem to report some, but as with the 30+ people dying daily in Bangkok on the roads (give or take) some are newsworthy, many are not. In addition, there are next of kin and notification issues which hopefully police try to follow wherever possible.

Crusty - my guess is this was a beach cat; would be hard to believe that a larger firefly or similar would be an issue or even be available for charter if the story is correct. 3 people is a lot however for a beach cat; perhaps something with a bit of power, which is why they ended up in difficulties. Obiously recovery of a larger craft might have also made news.

In any case, at least if he was a sailor, I hope he at least passed to the next world doing what he loved.

[MrJohnson]

The most surprising part of this story is that it saw the light of day. So many of these go unreported, I think by subtle (or not-so-subtle) pressure from the Thai Government, for fear of hurting tourism.

I was on Koh Phangan earlier this month and a young farang tourist died on Haad Rin beach while severely intoxicated and urinating in shallow water on the beach. He passed out and drowned with hundreds of people dancing 20 yards a way - noone noticed until it was too late. A huge gathering of farang were standing in the spot where he died for a long time and everybody there was shocked and talking about it.

Then the next day we asked around at the local shops if there were any more details - nobody had heard anything about it. I searched online at all of the places where something like that would be reported for days and nothing. It was like the medics just pulled him off the scene, stuffed him in a body bag, told his friends to get the body bag off the island and then closed the case.

Somebody should start deadfarang.com and keep track of this sort of thing...

Who cares, what do you want the Authorities to do, ban all parties on beaches, seriously stuff like that happens all around the world, I fail to understand what you are on about.

You missed my point entirely. My problem is that so many farang deaths are not reported on by the news media - not that they happen in the first place. In my view any time a farang dies in this country it should at least merit a small story in the Bangkok Post and Nation. The fact that so many deaths do not get such reporting, in my view, is not due to the fact that they are not newsworthy - I think the Thai Government puts pressure on these and other publications not to report on all of the deaths - as well as on various institutions not to provide information about deaths to the media (hospitals, police etc).

oh now........dare i say it.............a conspiracy perhaps?