Danish tourist drowns

PHUKET: A Danish tourist, named by police as Per Gregersem, 67, drowned off Raya Island on Thursday afternoon, while another tourist was saved from a similar fate off Patong. Mr Gregersem and his family, who were staying in Karon, went to Raya Island to enjoy an afternoon of swimming and sunbathing. After swimming for about half an hour, Mr Gregersem developed cramps. A jet-ski operator saw him waving and went to rescue him. However, Mr Gregersem was unconscious by the time jet-ski reached him. Attempts to revive Mr Gregersem failed and he was taken by speedboat to Chalong pier, where an ambulance was waiting to rush him to the Phuket International Hospital. At the hospital, further efforts to revive him were unsuccessful. Mr Gregersem’s family left for home yesterday, taking his body with them. On the same afternoon, a 62-year-old German tourist named by police as Christel Scharfenberg almost drowned in front of the Marine Police Center on Patong Beach. Mrs Scharfenberg was rescued by tourists who saw her waving and heard her calling for help. An ambulance was called and she was taken to Patong Hospital. Worried that they did not have the appropriate equipment to monitor her condition, staff at the hospital transferred Mrs Scharfenberg to the Wachira Phuket Hospital. One of Mrs Scharfenberg’s relatives later moved her again, to Bangkok Phuket Hospital, where she remains under observation in the Intensive Care Unit.