Indian newlywed killed in parasailing accident off the coast of Pattaya



PATTAYA: -- A 36 year old Indian Tourist who had been married for less than 2 weeks was killed on Wednesday afternoon in a horrific parasailing accident which saw her head come into contact with the rotating blade of an outboard motor of a speedboat.

The deceased tourist was named as Mrs. Shilpi Agarwal who was unrecognizable but was positively identified by her Husband who was understandably devastated at seeing his wife die in such a disturbing manner.

Mrs. Agarwal’s parasail was being towed by a speedboat known as “Mr Chang 9” which was being driven by Khun Saishon aged 25, who was detained by the Port authorities and then handed over to Police.

Witness statements confirmed that due to adverse weather conditions the Parasail and its passenger fell into the water and Khun Saishon initiated a U-turn so he could retrieve Mrs. Agarwal from the water. The parachute lines which were partially submersed in the water then came into contact with the outboard motor of the speedboat and pulled the victim into the rotating blades head-first causing catastrophic life-ending head injuries.

Full story: http://www.pattayaone.net/pattaya-news/104578/indian-newlywed-killed-parasailing-accident-coast-pattaya/


-- Pattaya One 2013-10-03

A terrible story and my heart goes out to the husband who had to witness the incident. My condolences to the family.

Sickening. This will only stop when the authorities put safety before money. What training and certification did the boat driver have? Did he have insurance? Had the boat and parasailing equipment been inspected regularly by an independent inspector?

If this was a one off event you could say it was an unfortunate accident. But when tourists are dying at sea every few weeks there's something wrong with the system.

Tragic. My thought and condolences go to husband and family. Unnecessary loss of life.

due to adverse weather conditions

The escape clause has been inserted.

Complete stupidity on part of the driver! Should have never happened in a million years there is no excuse or defense for this kind of accident. When pulling anything behind a boat you kill the motor at the first sigh of any trouble. Probably won't be any repercussions from city hall as the Indian consulate usually does not represent their nationals well. If this was a Chinese or Korean you would have seen the Mayor at the hospital already.

Complete stupidity on part of the driver! Should have never happened in a million years there is no excuse or defense for this kind of accident. When pulling anything behind a boat you kill the motor at the first sigh of any trouble. Probably won't be any repercussions from city hall as the Indian consulate usually does not represent their nationals well. If this was a Chinese or Korean you would have seen the Mayor at the hospital already.

The Indian Consulate is based in Chiang Mai, so this would be dealt with by the Embassy and not the Consulate.

Furthermore, I disagree with your statement, as the report in the Pattaya Daily News states that the Indian Embassy has said that they will take over all the costs to take them back to India.

I doubt that most Western Embassies would make this offer for their own citizens.

The British Embassy for instance offer very little in the way of support for its subjects, they don’t even Issue passports or visas any more.

The British embassy are about as much use as a chocolate spoon ,dont know why they bother having one here.

jetski & other stupid things you would not do in your own home country, they do here with unlicend farmers which like to extort people and never are responsable

Sickening. This will only stop when the authorities put safety before money. What training and certification did the boat driver have? Did he have insurance? Had the boat and parasailing equipment been inspected regularly by an independent inspector?

If this was a one off event you could say it was an unfortunate accident. But when tourists are dying at sea every few weeks there's something wrong with the system.

Can't you just say it was a tragic accident and leave it at that! What use would insurance be or equipment inspections in preventing the accident? In 10 years of living in Patts, I've never heard about a similar accident and what, maybe a million sails without incident.

Condolences to the husband on his tragic loss.

Parasails have been around for a few decades, I'm sure this isn't the first time such an incident has occurred.

But 25 year old Thai parasail boat driver has to learn about this the hard way - don't u-turn back on the parasail.

Very Sad.

The question has to be the regulation of such activities, I guess the speed boat operator was not insured, I wonder what if any formal training the skipper and crew of the speed boat had for such activity?

Thailand needs to ensure that all skippers of commercial boats have training in boat handling comparable to most civilised countries.

oh my .... that's a tragedy ... even worse after 2 weeks marriage ... but who is responsible in this case ? The boat driver perhaps ? After too many similar accidents its time to impose strong regulations. RIP Mrs. Agarwa

Sickening. This will only stop when the authorities put safety before money. What training and certification did the boat driver have? Did he have insurance? Had the boat and parasailing equipment been inspected regularly by an independent inspector?

If this was a one off event you could say it was an unfortunate accident. But when tourists are dying at sea every few weeks there's something wrong with the system.

Can't you just say it was a tragic accident and leave it at that! What use would insurance be or equipment inspections in preventing the accident? In 10 years of living in Patts, I've never heard about a similar accident and what, maybe a million sails without incident.

Condolences to the husband on his tragic loss.

some weeks ago a chinese tourist have been hit by a boat between coral island and pattaya .... you probably heard about it on Thaivisa.com

Negligent homicide. First thought that came in to my mind: The dumbf..k didn't have the developed sense to turn the damn motor off, or trawl the turn. This is another example of Thais playing with technology that should not be put into the hands of children.

My condolences to all who grieve over this. Maybe the PM can spare some time to visit the groom and hand him a word of encouragement as they both stand in the water near where she was mutilated by the propeller.

Last year a respected Polish doctor was killed by a speedboat propeller whilst swimming.

The British embassy are about as much use as a chocolate spoon ,dont know why they bother having one here.

The thing is why should the British taxpayer fork out for the cheapskates who do not bother with travel insurance or make provision for such eventualities.

My neighbor (well ex neighbour) had problems repatriating her deceased husband who died while abroad, turns out she missed out important facts about his health history when taking out travel insurance, It took weeks to sort out, seems the insurance company was compassionate in the end.

The irony of the story was she had him cremated after a church service when it probably would have been cheaper to have him cremated where he died and hold a memorial service for him back at home.

Sickening. This will only stop when the authorities put safety before money. What training and certification did the boat driver have? Did he have insurance? Had the boat and parasailing equipment been inspected regularly by an independent inspector?

If this was a one off event you could say it was an unfortunate accident. But when tourists are dying at sea every few weeks there's something wrong with the system.

Can't you just say it was a tragic accident and leave it at that! What use would insurance be or equipment inspections in preventing the accident? In 10 years of living in Patts, I've never heard about a similar accident and what, maybe a million sails without incident.

Condolences to the husband on his tragic loss.

some weeks ago a chinese tourist have been hit by a boat between coral island and pattaya .... you probably heard about it on Thaivisa.com

Yes, in any beach resort, where bathers and boats share the water, accidents will happen. I'm referring specifically to a parasailing boat crossing its tow line and the propellers pulling the parasailor into the engines blades.

I agree these boats\drivers should be regulated and trained but to reflexively beat this drum every time there is an accident gets kinda old.

I think the driver will eventually blame it on faulty brakes!

Anyway, there is some good news too. The driver did not run away, perhaps because so far there is only one guy in history who could run on water

There is no such thing as safety in Thailand.... only FAC(E)-ade

RIP Shilpi Agarwal my condolences to the family.

Again: Thai operators + water craft + no insurance + no training + no safety awareness = death and no consequences.

RIP Shilpi Agarwal my condolences to the family.

Again: Thai operators + water craft + no insurance + no training + no safety awareness = death and no consequences.

Or the shorter and more general one:

Thai operators + whatever = death and no consequences

Heartbreaking affair for the whole family.RIP.

Almost as many fatalities off the beaches of Thailand,either involving boats, jet-skis or divers coming to the surface and being struck, as there are on the roads here.Simply not good enough.

So much hand wringing. Successive Thai Governments have not seen the need to conduct proper driving tests or the RTP to apply laws. What chance that they will ensure safety on the water? Wouldn't that smack of acting like a Nanny state that so many here denigrate?

Does anybody really want to penalise a young man who jumped at the chance of gainful employment in spite of him not having the knowledge or skills to perform to a satisfactory level? Is he not also in a way, a victim?

I should like to see the owners of the boat brought to book. In the face of inclement weather why did they not suspend their operation? Fat chance of that, is there? The old man with a scythe will continue his harvest of souls from holidaymakers, Ad finitum I suspect.

Sickening. This will only stop when the authorities put safety before money. What training and certification did the boat driver have? Did he have insurance? Had the boat and parasailing equipment been inspected regularly by an independent inspector?

If this was a one off event you could say it was an unfortunate accident. But when tourists are dying at sea every few weeks there's something wrong with the system.

I think that like most things it was sheer stupidity on the part of the driver. They just don't think of the consequences of their actions. You know what they're like on the roads, giving them a speedboat to drive in populated waters is just asking for trouble. Condolences to the husband.........he must be devastated.

and still yet another reason to ban motors and jetskies

they just dont mix with people

Anybody who decide to take a parachute ride or to hire a wave jumper has to be in full understanding about dangers for themselves and outsides. Not to mention a huge devastating impact on environment from these kinds of sport activity. A gulp of Adrenaline does not cost the dangers to get it. Would it be so much better to attract tourists not by an opportunity to get some Adrenaline in veins but to drink a cocktail with magic shooms, or a kratom tea, or to get a good time to relax with a hookah, pot smoking after a body massage and sauna. Unfortunately, these types of body and nerves recreation are illegal while a killing of yourself and destruction of environment is perfectly fine in Thailand. I do not blame the Thai authorities. The U.N. is responsible for imposing such terrible regulations on all the people. Damn the U.N. officials, dismiss the organization, and split it to a large number of charity societies to work at any countries that need help and ban the U.N. in Thailand. You know who actually killed this Indian lady? The U.N. did not the speed boat.

come see thailand..the land of smiles the lure of a cheap vacation,with a free parasail,and endless seafood buffets...all run by children..who dont have a clue how to be hospitable or professional.....such a sad sad tragedy...

Complete stupidity on part of the driver! Should have never happened in a million years there is no excuse or defense for this kind of accident. When pulling anything behind a boat you kill the motor at the first sigh of any trouble. Probably won't be any repercussions from city hall as the Indian consulate usually does not represent their nationals well. If this was a Chinese or Korean you would have seen the Mayor at the hospital already.

The Indian Consulate is based in Chiang Mai, so this would be dealt with by the Embassy and not the Consulate.

Furthermore, I disagree with your statement, as the report in the Pattaya Daily News states that the Indian Embassy has said that they will take over all the costs to take them back to India.

I doubt that most Western Embassies would make this offer for their own citizens.

The British Embassy for instance offer very little in the way of support for its subjects, they don’t even Issue passports or visas any more.

The obvious question here is why the Indiam embassy would pick up the tab instead of leaning on Thai officials? Now why would this happen? It nearly implies that the Indians were somehow culpable. Why would India do this to protect Thailand?

Thanks for condensing it down to a simple racist formula for the knuckle draggers on here.

Needs to be for some folk it would seem!

Mininbus anyone?

Speeding & wreckless (irony) driving?

Motorbikes?

Any vehicle driven long hours without rest stops?

Overloaded ferries?

Overloaded speed boats?

Common factors are Thai operators + lack of training + lack of any accountability.

In this case the operator failed to "kill" the engine/s when someone was close by in the water ANY boat operator with the most basic safety training and awareness will use the kill/safety switch to make the situation safe while recovering a swimmer, diver or the lady in this case.

Not doing so might be argued that they were trying to maintain headway in bad seas - in which case it is a greater safety failure being there at all. Of fear of the engine not starting - again failure to maintain the vessel in a seaworthy condition. This is a failure that in the world only affects Thais? No clearly not - but it is a common theme in "misadventure" deaths in Thailand involving anything that floats whether tourists are involved or not.

There IS a Thai culture of non-training and no safety awareness FACT !

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