Man drowns at Kata Beach

KATA: An elderly German tourist on holiday with his wife drowned at Kata Beach late Thursday afternoon.

Chalong Police duty officer Capt Parichat Jaturonpan identified the deceased as Rudolf Breidach, 67, a guest at the Thavorn Palm Beach Hotel in Karon.

Mr Breidach, his wife and a female friend, also German, went swimming about 5 pm. There were no Phuket Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor) lifeguards present in the area at the time, Capt Parichat said.

Although Capt Parichat did not know whether the red warning flags were posted at the time, the stretch of Kata Beach where they chose to swim has claimed many lives through drowning because of the rip currents that form there, he said.

Mr Breidach’s body was taken to Patong Hospital by staff from the Tourist Rescue Center, he said.

The drowning was at least the third at Kata Beach this year alone, following the deaths of two foreign tourists in separate incidents on October 28.