20-year-old Korean tourist drowns off Bangtao Beach after ignoring red flag
Eakkapop Thongtub

PHUKET: Yet another group of carefree tourists failed to heed red flag dangerous surf warnings on a Phuket beach, resulting in the drowning death last night of a South Korean tourist, with two of his comrades in critical condition.

Cherng Talay Police were informed of the drowning at 9. 30pm by Thalang Hospital.

The victim, Mr Seung Gheiyang, 20, was reportedly among a group of six of his comrades who yesterday evening decided to ignore the red flags and warnings from staff at the popular five-star resort they were near, and play in the surf carefree.

Finally a huge wave struck, pulling three of the tourists out to sea. A jet-ski rescue attempt recovered the three, which were then transported to Thalang Hospital, where Mr Seung was pronouned dead.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/20-year-old-korean-tourist-drowns-off-bangtao-beach-after-ignoring-red-flag-53265.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

-- Phuket News 2015-07-18

At that time in the evening, have to think booze a factor. Bad decision. RIP to the Korean guy hope the others pull through.

...can somebody corroborate that the staff even told them anything....

...for me...seeing that wilted flag on the beach means nothing.....

...can somebody corroborate that the staff even told them anything....

...for me...seeing that wilted flag on the beach means nothing.....

Telling them and being sure they understand are 2 different things, also in line with the culture who is telling who what to do. Some lowly porter or receptionist carefully explaining to some self important bozo, may have little influence on their decision to take a dip.

Clearly there is a case for the education process to begin on the flight on the way over.

RIP.

...can somebody corroborate that the staff even told them anything....

...for me...seeing that wilted flag on the beach means nothing.....

Then you need to get educated.

Regardless of the flag and what it may mean to the uninformed,,,the colour red, in most natural circumstances, means keep away..I am poisonous.I will bite etc etc.

Not that hard to understand and is multilingual generally.

Next time you see a wilted red flag ....stop and ask yourself, why is that wilted flag red and not green.

Does it mean stop or go?

perhaps warning signs in Korean and Chinese might be appropriate in this case seemingly they don't understand what a red flag means .

A couple of posts removed, respect please, we are talking about a death here.

...can somebody corroborate that the staff even told them anything....

...for me...seeing that wilted flag on the beach means nothing.....

Then you need to get educated.

Regardless of the flag and what it may mean to the uninformed,,,the colour red, in most natural circumstances, means keep away..I am poisonous.I will bite etc etc.

Not that hard to understand and is multilingual generally.

Next time you see a wilted red flag ....stop and ask yourself, why is that wilted flag red and not green.

Does it mean stop or go?

I think SOTIRIOS could mean that these torn up red flags are there all year around, even in high season when the Water is quiet and safe - I know the red flags are there all the time at Patong Beach (too lazy to put up and take down maybe ... ?)

Its dark at 9:30 PM and it is quite possible that the flag cannot be seen.

perhaps warning signs in Korean and Chinese might be appropriate in this case seemingly they don't understand what a red flag means .

Those signs are there.

I think SOTIRIOS could mean that these torn up red flags are there all year around, even in high season when the Water is quiet and safe - I know the red flags are there all the time at Patong Beach (too lazy to put up and take down maybe ... ?)

That's a good point.

If the flags are ALWAYS red regardless of sea conditions, then of course people will ignore them.

The flags are only red all the time for those of us who live here full time. For a tourist it is a new flag when they arrive. The flags on Kata Noi beach seem to change with the conditions and there are large multi lingual signs with graphics. No excuses. Sorry this guy lost his life and his friends injured but sounds like a lapse of or impaired judgement. Too many tourists forget to pack their brains along with the change of underwear.

Shame they did not take heed to the flag.. RIP..

ah the stick & the old red rag ..

You'd think they would take notice of red flags, being south korean. RIP