Four drownings in two months: Phuket Lifeguard Club

One of the lifeguards assigned to Karon Beach,

where 54 people needed assistance over the last

one-month reporting period. File photo.

PHUKET: -- At least four people have drowned in the rough monsoon surf at Phuket beaches over the past two months.

The Phuket Lifeguard Club’s latest incident report says two died in 371 “incidents” between September 26 and October 25.

The number of incidents was up sharply over the previous four weeks, when 184 incidents were reported.

As usual, foreigners were the vast majority of those receiving assistance – about 80% on average.

In addition to the two drownings since September 26, eight people suffered injuries requiring hospital admittance. Five of these were foreigners.

Patong Beach had the highest number of reported incidents for the period, 188, followed by Kata (67), Karon (54) and Nai Harn (16).

Most incidents involved people being caught in rip tides.

There were also 11 reports of jellyfish stings over the past four weeks, 10 of them involving foreigners at Patong Beach.

-- Phuket Gazette 2010-10-29

At least it's a drop in drownings from August. But The ocean is pretty flat now, not much surf. I went to Kata Noi yesterday and there wasn't a lifeguard in sight. There was a rescue paddle board there though...

I don't where to go with this issue. In Kamala at low tide you can see a long cement pole that starts on the beach and stretches out 25 meters into the surf. Out of it are four, foot long pieces of re-bar sticking straight up. Sooner or later, someone is going to get impaled on one of these. They're hidden under the water till low tide. The four pieces of re-bar should be cut off. Any suggestion on who might be interested in hearing about his? I shake my head everytime I walk by it. It's in the middle of Kamala Beach close to the beach by the police station.

I don't where to go with this issue. In Kamala at low tide you can see a long cement pole that starts on the beach and stretches out 25 meters into the surf. Out of it are four, foot long pieces of re-bar sticking straight up. Sooner or later, someone is going to get impaled on one of these. They're hidden under the water till low tide. The four pieces of re-bar should be cut off. Any suggestion on who might be interested in hearing about his? I shake my head everytime I walk by it. It's in the middle of Kamala Beach close to the beach by the police station.

You can try posting it on the Phuket Gazette issues and answers. See the link here: Issues and answers