Tourist 'near strangled' in mid-air during freak parasailing accident in Phuket

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Tourist 'near strangled' in mid-air during freak parasailing accident in Phuket
Claire Connell


Marium Saleem before she took off from Kata Beach.

PHUKET: -- -- Marium Saleem’s first time parasailing on Kata Beach turned to horror last week when she says she almost died after being strangled by the harness mid-air and blacking out twice, causing serious bruising to her neck.

However, the parasail operator denies any accident occurred in the air and says perhaps she was just afraid of heights.

Ms Saleem, born and raised in America but now living in Pakistan, arrived in Phuket on December 28 to visit a friend who lives in Kata. On New Year’s Eve, Ms Saleem, 23, decided to go parasailing, along with her friend’s brother.

After being strapped into the harness, she ran, and was lifted high up into the air.
“I knew something was wrong,” she told The Phuket News.

“Within seconds, I felt my life jacket and harness pull up above my chest and wrap around my neck. ‘Is this normal?’, I thought to myself.

“I tried to keep calm, thinking maybe the ropes would relax the higher we got, but I was wrong. As each second passed by, I felt the ropes of the harness strangling my neck, and the metal clips sat tightly on my windpipe.

“That’s when I started to scream for help, but it was no use.”

Unable to attract attention, she tried to pull her body up to separate the rope from her neck, so she could breathe.

“I felt my arms starting to go limp, my eyes widening from the lack of air and I was sure that this was it.”

Then she blacked out.

“Once I woke up after blacking out in the air, I was sure I wasn’t going to make it because I felt my eyes widening, and my breaths getting shorter.

“With every ounce of strength I had left, I screamed my last scream. Finally, I saw someone [in the boat] look up. He quickly pulled the parachute down into the middle of the ocean, and once my body touched the water, I passed out again.

“When my eyes re-opened, I was being pulled back to shore [by a rope]. I started to cry. I’m not really sure if it was relief, fear, panic – or all of the above.”

Back on shore, Ms Saleem’s friends had not realised what was happening until they saw the last photo they snapped – her reaching the shore crying and holding her neck. She had been in the air around seven minutes. Ms Saleem was shaking, and felt like she was going to faint again.

“Since they [the operators] were speaking in Thai, they spoke to my friend trying to ask what happened. She explained to them that I was choking on the ropes and metal clips.

“They just asked me once ‘okay?’ and walked away. Only one man said sorry, and the other said there are no metal clips. Later when I went home I looked at the pictures of the harness and there were clearly more metal objects on it.”

Since the accident she has suffered flashbacks of the incident and is still in pain.

“I had internal and external bruises all around my neck from the metal clips and the rope. My legs were bleeding [from hitting something in the water], and there was some internal swelling and bruising in my abdomen.

“Up until two nights ago, I would wake up every night shaking. But I’m better now, I realise it’s better to be grateful that I walked away with my life, rather than be scared about what could have happened.”

Ms Saleem believes the lifejacket or harness was not tight enough, so when she was lifted into the air, it slid up around her neck.

“There should be more safety regulations put in place, some sort of signal or gesture that indicates a person [up in the air] is in danger or needs help. The only instruction I was given was to run when he counted to three – that’s it.”

She said she did not pursue a complaint or contact police while in Phuket because she did not want to cause trouble.

“When you think that you could have almost died if they heard you a second too late, at that time [making a complaint] is the last thing going through your mind.

“The only outcome I actually want from this is for others to be more aware.

“These companies need to realise that there are no short cuts for safety precautions and it only takes a second for something to go wrong.”

Parasail Head of Operations Kraidetch Boonnak said he could remember Ms Saleem and her two friends, but denied there was any sort of accident.

“They came here many days ago. I do not know what happened when she was up in the air because she didn’t say anything. Her friends told us that she was okay.

“I’ve worked in the parasailing business for 40 years. No one has ever died using my service.

“I don’t know what was going on with her that day, she might have been afraid of heights.”

When Mr Kraidetch was asked if customers were given a safety briefing prior to launch, about what to do in an emergency, he said, “We educate our customers first before they go up in the air. The customers don’t have to do anything.”

He said the lifejacket and harness could not have been fitted incorrectly because the parasail staff fit the customer with it – they do not do it themselves.

He said that in all his years in the industry he had never heard of anyone wanting to get down while they were up in the air.

–Additional reporting by Prapaporn Jitmaneeyaphan

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/tourist-near-strangled-in-mid-air-during-freak-parasailing-accident-in-phuket-43939.php


-- Phuket News 2014-01-10

[Andre0720]

''However, the parasail operator denies any accident occurred in the air and says perhaps she was just afraid of heights.''

“I had internal and external bruises all around my neck from the metal clips and the rope. My legs were bleeding [from hitting something in the water], and there was some internal swelling and bruising in my abdomen.''

The parasail operator will swear he saw with his own eyes these bruises before she took the parasail tour...

And then anything can happen to someone who has a phobia of heights and go parasailing anyway...

[asdecas]

Clearly the stupid woman tried to strangle herself with the harness while 100m up in the air. Happens all the time.

[steelepulse]

Parasail operator is full of s***** and is doing the normal, take no blame and deflect to another scenario.

[CraigSchuler]

Could happen to anybody in any country.

[JoeThePoster]

I dont know what was going on with her that day, she might have been afraid of heights.

Yeah, that's why she decided to go parasailing.

[hansgruber]

Things go wrong in extreme activities.

Why is this even news?

[biggles45]

"He said the lifejacket and harness could not have been fitted incorrectly because the parasail staff fit the customer with it they do not do it themselves."

and of course all Thai staff are very well trained and safety conscious, you see examples of this every day.

The Thai way "............deny, deny, deny or lie, lie lie. whats the new saying in ASEAN now "Don't Thai to me !!"

[eddie61]

OK then. Wait until someone dies and then have a clampdown as it is ruining the cuntry's image

[Bluespunk]

Could happen to anybody in any country.

No, no it couldn't. Phuket is special in that way. [unless you're being sarcastic of course, in which case Kudos].

[Bluespunk]

'He said that in all his years in the industry he had never heard of anyone wanting to get down while they were up in the air.'

Yeah, right. That line alone leads me to distrust this individual.

[stevenl]

All the time I see these things taking off and landing there is personnel with the guest going up in the air. Was that not the case with her?

[brianP]

I learned my lesson 35 years ago trying someones home made hang glider. Anything done in the air should be your own equipment and custom fitted!

[Ulic]

Nobody may have died in his operation but people do die para-sailing. She may not have come as close to dying as

she thinks but she did have a bad experience and a close call. These operations do need better oversight with staff

certification. The harness does ride up on lift-off so it has to be properly fitted. Not sure how this company operates

but many in Phuket have a control steering guy sitting in the lines behind and above the customer to steer the chute

in to the beach for landing. To bad she did not lodge a complaint at the time and a proper investigation may have

helped future customers.

[steelepulse]

>>To bad she did not lodge a complaint at the time and a proper investigation may have

helped future customers.

That's a pipe dream.

[xerostar]

The chute harness needs to have a crotch strap that stops the harness from riding up.

Same as a racing car harness that prevents the driver from "submarine-ing" under heavy braking.

Perhaps this strap was missing from the harness or was not fastened for some reason?

[eezergood]

Morons playing, yet again, with peoples lives for profit!

Fear not, if she is lucky, AM @ PW will take up the case, he is a panacea for all Phukets ills

[Konini]

My husband did para-sailing about 15 years ago at Penang - I could be mistaken but I'm fairly sure he had a crotch strap connected to the life jacket.

As an aside, he said he really enjoyed it for the first 2 or 3 minutes, then it was a bit boring and he started looking up at the straps, knots and metal ties and wondering if they were really 100% safe. Not scared, just wondering.

[risky11]

Sorry to hear about this woman's horrible experience. I went parasailing on Pattaya beach during my first visit in 1984. It was fun - no issues. The second time I went parasailing was in Key West in 2001. You could choose the standard height of 400 ft or the extreme height of 800 ft - so I chose 800. It was great floating up so high - although I have been in helicopters and small planes - and am even higher. We were told specifically by the cruise line NOT to go parasailing or rent a motorcycle, but I did it anyway. So glad I survived.

Regarding the mishap in the story, the fault obviously lies with the staff person who fitted the woman with the harness. Also, someone should have been watching her at all times to make sure she was not in trouble. It would have been news if she died - it's news if she survived. Thanks Thai Visa.

[Nemesis7]

Hope she feeling better now and can forget the terrible incident

[kwaussie]

Lazy spotter on boat only looked up on last scream, i think very lucky girl.

[wilcopops]

I think many people are unaware of how potentially dangerous any form of non-rigid wing can be.

[DGIE]

Whose hand is that holding the hand of Marium Saleem in the photo?

[smileydude]

The chute harness needs to have a crotch strap that stops the harness from riding up.

Same as a racing car harness that prevents the driver from "submarine-ing" under heavy braking.

Perhaps this strap was missing from the harness or was not fastened for some reason?

Thinking the same thing. Crotch strap not properly fastened or faulty lock allowed strap to loosen under weight stress.

Every extreme sport has its risks and people participating in them should be minimally trained enough to handle situations when things don't go according to plan. Operator needs to brief customers on safety issues prior to taking off, double check his equipment and possibly install a remote wireless emergency button in case participant feels something is wrong or freaks and wants to bail out.

This is the reason I don't do bungee jumping or skydiving also.

Of course my fear of heights played no part

[kurnell]

In 20 years in Thailand I have never met a Thai that has ever made a mistake. It was always someone else's fault.

[oldsailor35]

Yeh! just another attempted suicide gone wrong!

Honestly, do these operators know what they are doing, what training do they have, how many were in the tow boat.

Bloody 'cowboys' all of them, remember Pattaya not so long ago when the Indian lady was killed due to incompetance.

How many more, how many unreported close calls ?

[oldsailor35]

The chute harness needs to have a crotch strap that stops the harness from riding up.

Same as a racing car harness that prevents the driver from "submarine-ing" under heavy braking.

Perhaps this strap was missing from the harness or was not fastened for some reason?

Or perhaps, they have never heard of such a thing in Thailand

[deesquared]

I've used these guys before. They were very professional and the equipment was top notch. Sounds like a freak accident.

[steelepulse]

Here's another parasailing accident http://www.thephuketnews.com/second-phuket-tourist-in-parasailing-brush-with-death-44005.php