Thai tourist feared drowned off Patong

PATONG: Prawit Butdon, a 19-year-old tourist from Haad Yai, is feared to have drowned while swimming with friends off Patong Beach yesterday. Pol Capt Chawarit Patseepear of Kathu District Police Station said he received a call at about 6 pm, notifying him that Prawit had disappeared. Officers from Kathu and from the Marine Police rushed to the scene, along with a unit from the Kusornlatham Foundation, but their search for the teenager was hampered by bad weather. Charthee Ruklee of the Kusornlatham Foundation said, “Three of us from the Foundation took a rubber dinghy out for about an hour, but we found nothing. We came back and waited for the wind and the waves to die down, but the weather got worse.” Pol Sgt Maj Wanchai La-Ao Aied of the Marine Police said, “We went back at ten this morning. But the weather was no better, so there was nothing more we could do.” “Normally, the body of a drowned person will float to the surface about 24 hours after death. The only thing we can do now is to wait until the corpse resurfaces. We’ll go back this evening to look for it.”