Rip currents wreak havoc at Nai Harn, one swimmer in ICU

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Rip currents wreak havoc at Nai Harn, one swimmer in ICU
Phuket Gazette


Dozens of people ignored the red flags erected on Nai Harn Beach yesterday. Photo: Phuket Lifeguard Club

PHUKET: A woman is on life support after being pulled unconscious from the waves of Nai Harn yesterday afternoon.

Vachira Phuket Hospital staff declined to name the woman, who is thought to be in her 20s.

“She was swimming in a red-flag zone with a group of about six other people. In total, there were about 20 Thai people in the zone,” Nai Harn chief lifeguard Jula Nontree told the Phuket Gazette this morning. “We asked them to move several times, but they just ignored us – we rescued so many people caught in rip currents yesterday.”

Full story: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Rip-currents-wreak-havoc-Nai-Harn-one/63706?desktopversion


-- Phuket Gazette 2016-04-18

[KhunBENQ]

Darwin's natural selection.

Rude comment, but what can you say?

[Speedo1968]

"Gone in 60 seconds !"

Anyone who has been caught in a rip will know the feeling.

As a strong swimmer and keen surfer in Oz back in the 60's and 70's - even there you can get caught unawares - these rips move faster than you ever can.

Try putting the Red Flags further apart.

Even close the beach - umm !

Have never been to the beach concerned but it looks really hairy as far as rips and strong currents are concerned.

The lifeguards put their lives at risk when they have to come and drag you out.

[arithai12]

Sorry for the girl, I hope she pulls through.

First, it is a shame that young people are not taught proper swimming in a country with so many beaches and rivers.

About that beach: in the period when I was there a couple of weeks ago, there were red flags all the time, and people were happily swimming. I could not see

any obvious reason for those flags. I literally saw the life guards go and stick them up, about 3pm, without any of them actually having been

in the water. There were some breaking waves, which everybody was enjoying a lot.

So it's a little like crying wolf, if you do it too often for no reason, then people won't be really concerned when it's for real.

Edited April 18, 2016 by arithai12

[Speedo1968]

To "arithai12"

As I said "Gone in 60 seconds" that's how long it can take !

A rip is stronger / faster than you can ever swim.

One minute there you are "happily swimming" as you put it, the next you are 100 metres out to sea fighting not to drown.

Perhaps you should take some swimming lessons too.

The red flags are there for a reason - you are being warned that your life and that of the life guard too may be at risk.

I would advise you to look at videos on youtube to see what can really happen when a rip decides to come your way - they can be invisible if you are in the water.

[arithai12]

Speedo1968

No, putting the red flags up and then lounging in your chair in the shade watching all the young non-swimmers taking selfies in the waves is not the right approach. But that is what I have seen with my eyes.

I have been at that beach for years. The red flags are almost always up, or maybe red/yellow. Either you close the beach perpetually, or you do something pro-active like go into the water and tell the people what to expect. Non-swimmers should stay out.

About that girl, she was not pulled out in the open ocean and then under by some vicious current like you seem to imagine... she was simply dragged out by a wave after losing her balance, and since she could not swim at all she drowned in not so deep waters.

About swimming lessons for me, maybe you should inform yourself before you dispense wisdom.

Edited April 18, 2016 by arithai12

[hEaDy]

Darwin's natural selection.

Rude comment, but what can you say?

Perhaps you could have said nothing?

I can say, in this age of awakening, that it's a rude revelation to me that people still beieve in and quote Darwinism...

[Stokakrishna]

Darwin's natural selection.

Rude comment, but what can you say?

not rude. simple truth

[stevenl]

Speedo1968

No, putting the red flags up and then lounging in your chair in the shade watching all the young non-swimmers taking selfies in the waves is not the right approach. But that is what I have seen with my eyes.

I have been at that beach for years. The red flags are almost always up, or maybe red/yellow. Either you close the beach perpetually, or you do something pro-active like go into the water and tell the people what to expect. Non-swimmers should stay out.

About that girl, she was not pulled out in the open ocean and then under by some vicious current like you seem to imagine... she was simply dragged out by a wave after losing her balance, and since she could not swim at all she drowned in not so deep waters.

About swimming lessons for me, maybe you should inform yourself before you dispense wisdom.

Yes, the flags are red/yellow, indicating the area that is guarded. That is what you watched, the life guards marking the guarded area.

[wookienookie]

"Gone in 60 seconds !"

Anyone who has been caught in a rip will know the feeling.

As a strong swimmer and keen surfer in Oz back in the 60's and 70's - even there you can get caught unawares - these rips move faster than you ever can.

Try putting the Red Flags further apart.

Even close the beach - umm !

Have never been to the beach concerned but it looks really hairy as far as rips and strong currents are concerned.

The lifeguards put their lives at risk when they have to come and drag you out.

I go to this beach and I once pulled 2 French kids out (about age 7 and 14). They were caught in a rip in the red flag area (no life guard to be seen!). I took them to their Dad who was grateful. 15 minutes later they were back in the water in the same place. What can you do, many of these people do not listen or just ignore the warning, even when you talk directly to them!

[sawadee1947]

it's not a big problem to escape the rip if you know how and what to do. However if you never learned or heard about.....it's fate. Everybody have to die once, some earlier. It's hard to say but true.

[Dodgydownunder]

Nai Harn is probably the most beautiful but also the most dangerous beach on Phuket. I am a strong swimmer and am used to swimming in surf in Oz but got caught in a very strong rip there one day. Really scary! I pulled a Chinese out of a somewhat weaker rip at Kata once.

[bearpolar]

Sorry for the girl, I hope she pulls through.

First, it is a shame that young people are not taught proper swimming in a country with so many beaches and rivers.

About that beach: in the period when I was there a couple of weeks ago, there were red flags all the time, and people were happily swimming. I could not see

any obvious reason for those flags. I literally saw the life guards go and stick them up, about 3pm, without any of them actually having been

in the water. There were some breaking waves, which everybody was enjoying a lot.

So it's a little like crying wolf, if you do it too often for no reason, then people won't be really concerned when it's for real.

Can we stop with the thai bashing? Every pool on the island is filled with kids learning to swim everyday at 4pm+ and these kids can swim way way way better than i learned back home.

The only issue is the damn flags being put there way too often when its safe and then when its dangerous, most people don't know.

Edited April 18, 2016 by bearpolar

[johnatong]

Sorry but no sympathy, ignore red flags at your peril.

Rips, to an experienced swimmer/surfer present no risk but to those who ignore red flags they are lethal.

[laolover88]

None of the main Andaman Coast Phuket beaches are ""safe" whatever that might mean. Of course they are beautiful. Nai Harrn has sea snakes, Kata and Karon are lethal when there high winds. Patong has some very strange currents where huge bodies of water flow very quickly like moving lakes (I have had to rescue more than a few children from them) There seems an unusual nonchalance to understanding the power of the sea.In the west of Ireland people have been swept away by sudden huge waves mounting very high cliffs. The sea is not some stable, predictable, placid force,

Edited April 18, 2016 by laolover88

[Speedo1968]

Speedo1968

No, putting the red flags up and then lounging in your chair in the shade watching all the young non-swimmers taking selfies in the waves is not the right approach. But that is what I have seen with my eyes.

I have been at that beach for years. The red flags are almost always up, or maybe red/yellow. Either you close the beach perpetually, or you do something pro-active like go into the water and tell the people what to expect. Non-swimmers should stay out.

About that girl, she was not pulled out in the open ocean and then under by some vicious current like you seem to imagine... she was simply dragged out by a wave after losing her balance, and since she could not swim at all she drowned in not so deep waters.

About swimming lessons for me, maybe you should inform yourself before you dispense wisdom.

Your second but last paragraph "About that girl..." explains clear and simple ( an atypical rip event ) what happens when there IS a rip - from your earlier post "standing in one metre of water, lost balance because of a wave and THERE BELOW HER was the rip she could not see. The cold water of the rip ties itself like a rope around your legs and because of the speed it travels you are constantly being dragged under the water. Even for the strongest of swimmers, moving out of a rip current is very difficult, even when you know how you should be reacting. Perhaps you too should learn what to do if you find yourself in such a situation. You don't have to be in deep water to drown.

A rip can move along the width of the beach was well as seaward, generally starting in the shallows. That's why the flags are moved.

As for the life guards doing nothing - perhaps they are so fed up with people ignoring their warnings they have said ....... !

In countries where the beach culture is the norm there is respect for the sea and what it can do therefore if we are "warned of danger" we avoid - simple as that.

"Non swimmers should stay out." ALL people - whether they can swim or not - should stay out of the danger areas i.e. yellow and red flags.

The flags are up, if they're up its for a reason.

I have surfed since the 1960's in Australia and other countries, I think I have gained enough knowledge ( wisdom ) to at least not put myself in danger if possible.

[Speedo1968]

Sorry but no sympathy, ignore red flags at your peril.

Rips, to an experienced swimmer/surfer present no risk but to those who ignore red flags they are lethal.

I agree with your sentiment but ... I would not agree that rips pose no risk just because you are an experienced swimmer / surfer.

Rips are too 'unreliable' for one to be rather blase about their effects.

I talk from experience.

[HLover]

RIP (current)

[Guest]

She died today http://phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Swimmer-succumbs-leaving-ICU/63714

[johnatong]

Sorry but no sympathy, ignore red flags at your peril.

Rips, to an experienced swimmer/surfer present no risk but to those who ignore red flags they are lethal.

I agree with your sentiment but ... I would not agree that rips pose no risk just because you are an experienced swimmer / surfer.

Rips are too 'unreliable' for one to be rather blase about their effects.

I talk from experience.

You should stay out of the water !

Any experienced swimmer/surfer knows about rips and how to escape one if needed.

As a much younger man I and my friends would, when surfing, deliberately make use of the rips !

[Speedo1968]

Sorry but no sympathy, ignore red flags at your peril.

Rips, to an experienced swimmer/surfer present no risk but to those who ignore red flags they are lethal.

I agree with your sentiment but ... I would not agree that rips pose no risk just because you are an experienced swimmer / surfer.

Rips are too 'unreliable' for one to be rather blase about their effects.

I talk from experience.

You should stay out of the water !

Any experienced swimmer/surfer knows about rips and how to escape one if needed.

As a much younger man I and my friends would, when surfing, deliberately make use of the rips !

[Speedo1968]

Sorry but no sympathy, ignore red flags at your peril.

Rips, to an experienced swimmer/surfer present no risk but to those who ignore red flags they are lethal.

I agree with your sentiment but ... I would not agree that rips pose no risk just because you are an experienced swimmer / surfer.

Rips are too 'unreliable' for one to be rather blase about their effects.

I talk from experience.

You should stay out of the water !

Any experienced swimmer/surfer knows about rips and how to escape one if needed.

As a much younger man I and my friends would, when surfing, deliberately make use of the rips !

As a swimmer since a very young child more than 60 years ago which included river swimming, a competitive swimmer local and international, long distance sea swimmer, surfer ( mainly body but also rubber – duck and board ) since late 1960’s – yes I am well aware of the dangers of water.

In Australia I surfed daily and, saved and was saved from a number of rips. As I was predominately a body surfer ( no flippers no hand boards ), I would NEVER use a rip to take me out to a point because it was easier than swimming there and treading water.

I know very well how to contend with a rip but, would never be arrogant enough to underestimate what a rip is capable of.

What I would suggest is that beaches such as Nai Harn install a “Watch Tower”, funded by the local government or commerce. Lifeguards need to be well above the water line to see a rip that is coming, the established rip with still water on the surface or, a different water colour are also best sighted from a tower.

Shouting at people who have “No sea sense” to get out of the water never really works, except where there is a beach culture that respects, understands and responds to requests of the lifeguards.