Russian man rescued after jumping into Pattaya sea near Bali Hai Pier

Mueang Pattaya Police Station officers and rescuers rescued a Russian man who jumped into the sea near Bali Hai Pier on Saturday. Cannabis was blamed for his careless actions.

Police officers and rescuers rushed to the Bali Hai Pier to help the Russian man, aged between 30 and 40 years old. The foreign man reportedly jumped into the sea at about 10.50pm on Saturday, January 20 and swam straight to the Pattaya Ocean yacht, which was 300 metres away from the coast.

The staff members on the yacht helped the Russian man by throwing him a rubber ring and managed to drag him onto the yacht to await the arrival of the police and rescuers.

The foreigner was later escorted to shore. According to the police report, the man was shirtless and wearing only black shorts. He looked exhausted and was unable to give officers any information or documents.

A 34 year old Thai witness, Nikorn, told Channel 7 that he was fishing for squid at the pier when he saw the foreign man arrive. The man looked blank and immediately jumped into the water in front of his face.

Nikorn saw the Russian man swimming to the yacht in the middle of the sea and decided to call the police, fearing the man would drown.

Police searched the Russian man and found a plastic bag of cannabis in his shorts pocket. Officers suspected that he had used an excessive amount of ganja and got high on it. No legal charges were brought against him and officers later returned him to his accommodation.

In a related story, another rescue operation took place yesterday, January 21, in Chon Buri province after three drunk Thai men fell from a bridge into the sea. One of the victims revealed that they drank alcohol on the bridge all night, and one of them fell into the sea.

The other two tried to help their friend by jumping into the water. Unfortunately, only one of them was able to climb over the piles of the bridge and the other two were still in the sea when the rescuers arrived. The rescuers were able to save them all and no one was injured.