Two Drown at Kata Noi

KATA NOI: Two Japanese tourists drowned at Kata Noi Beach on Friday. Pol Maj Pissanu Poonwong of the Phuket Town Police identified the victims as Yoshinori Gotoda, 51, and Sajime Miya, 54. The two men were guests of the Kata Thani Hotel and had arrived in Phuket on Wednesday as part of a tour group. Although there were red flags warning of the dangerous conditions, the two men went swimming in front of the hotel on Friday afternoon. Lifeguards on the beach said that they saw a large wave knock the two men down. When, after a few minutes, they had not surfaced, the beach guards began searching for them with jet-skis. The two were found shortly afterward and rushed to the Bangkok Phuket Hospital, where efforts to revive them failed. Both were declared dead due to lack of oxygen to the brain. The bodies were cremated and the ashes have been sent to Japan.