Phuket surf claims two lives in one day
PHUKET: The drowning deaths of two tourists at Karon Beach earlier today has prompted another warning from Phuket lifeguards to foreigners about entering the surf when red warning flags are flying.
On a day of unseasonably high tides on Phuket’s west coast, two men lost their lives while another man remains in serious condition at Phuket International Hospital.
Erik Larsen, 58, from Denmark, was pulled from the sea in front of the Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort and Spa at Karon Beach at 11am today.
Mr Larsen was resuscitated on the beach before being taken to Patong Hospital, where he later died.
This afternoon an unidentified Russian man in his forties drowned at the same beach.
A Swedish man in his sixties was also rescued from the surf at Karon before noon today. He was taken to Patong Hospital, but was later released.
The two latest victims brings the number of drownings on Phuket’s Karon Beach alone to eight since June.
Meanwhile, German national Gisbert Mergler, 49, remains in serious condition in the intensive care unit of Phuket International Hospital after almost drowning at Kata Beach today.
Kata lifeguard station chief Utane Singsom told the Phuket Gazette that waves of up to three meters at Karon and Kata beaches since yesterday have made swimming treacherous.
He urged tourists to obey the warnings and not enter the sea when red flags are posted.
— Pimwara Choksakulpan
