Elderly Japanese dies on coral tour

PHUKET: Japanese tourist Akira Yamagida, 67, died while on a coral sightseeing tour at Koh Hei on Sunday. Pol Maj Jasada Sangsuri, of Chalong Police Station, told the Gazette yesterday that Mr Yamagida was swimming with his friend Yasuhiro Yamauchi, 56, and two other tourists just five meters off a Koh Hei beach at about midday. After they had been in the water about 15 minutes, Mr Yamagida’s body, apparently lifeless, bumped into one of the other tourists. Discovering that Mr Yamagida was not breathing, Mr Yamauchi and the other tourists pulled him ashore, where the leader of their speedboat tour tried to resuscitate him. They then put back Mr Yamagida back aboard the speedboat. The captain radioed for police and an ambulance to meet them at Chalong Pier, and sped back to Phuket. Maj Jasada said Mr Yamauchi told police that Mr Yamagida was alive when he was brought back aboard the boat, but that he died on the way back to Phuket. On arriving at Chalong Pier, Mr Yamagida was rushed by ambulance to Bangkok Phuket Hospital, where it was determined that he had died of respiratory failure.