Chinese Tourist Airlifted To Phuket

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Chinese tourist airlifted to Phuket

Zouxin Jie aboard a Thai Navy helicopter this afternoon.

PHUKET: -- A Chinese woman is fighting for her life at Vachira Phuket Hospital after a dramatic airlift rescue from Surin Island National Park this afternoon.

Lt Cdr Somsak Boonkam of the Naval Air Section, Third Area Command (NASTAC), told the Phuket Gazette that he was among the five rescuers dispatched on the mission.

“At about noon we received radio orders to conduct an emergency medical evacuation of a tourist from the Surin Islands. She had already been given first aid by security personnel on the island when we arrived,” he said.

The tourist, 26-year-old Zouxin Jie, was traveling alone when she joined a group tour to the remote islands, which offer some of the best snorkeling sites in Thai waters.

Unable to use the island helipad, the rescue team hoisted Ms Zouxin into the aircraft from a stone formation at the shoreline.

After the helicopter returned to the navy base at Cape Panwa she was rushed to Vachira Phuket Hospital by ambulance.

Ms Zouxin apparently had water enter her lungs during a dive trip. There were no wounds on her body, he said.

“She appeared to show signs of consciousness during the return trip, but she was unable to move or talk,” he added.

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-01-06

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Chinese dive tourist recovering in Phuket hospital

Zouxin Jie was flown to Cape Panwa before being transferred

to Vachira Phuket Hospital yesterday.

PHUKET: -- The young Chinese diver airlifted from the Surin Islands to Phuket yesterday is conscious, speaking and able to eat, doctors said today.

Zouxin Jie, 26, was early yesterday afternoon airlifted from the Surin Island National Park by a Thai Navy helicopter to Phuket, where she was transferred to Vachira Phuket Hospital.

Dr Weerawat Yorsaengrat, deputy director of Vachira Phuket Hospital, presumes that Ms Zouxin was suffering from decompression sickness.

She was rescued unconscious on a beach on one of the Surin islands with blood coming out of her ears and bubbles coming from her mouth, Dr Weerawat told the Phuket Gazette.

In the absence of any wounds or trauma to the body surface, the symptoms indicated internal injuries consistent with decompression sickness, he said.

First aid she received at the island prevented her condition from worsening, he said.

Ms Zouxin’s condition stabilized after receiving treatment at Vachira Hospital yesterday.

Her pulse, body temperature and blood-oxygen levels went back to normal and blood secretion from her ears ceased, though she remained unconscious overnight, doctors said.

An officer at the hospital told the Gazette that Ms Zouxin awoke at about 6am today and was able to sit and eat by herself. She could talk a little, but was still confused.

She is still being closely monitored by doctors, the officer said.

Vachira Phuket Hospital has contacted the Chinese consulate in Songkhla Province, which is now awaiting a response from Zouxin’s parents, who have been informed of their daughter’s condition, the officer said.

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-01-07