Phuket Floods Tragedy: Tourist Electrocuted in Patong

**StrontiumDog** · 25-08-2011, 11:15 AM

WEATHER ALERT Phuket Floods Tragedy: Tourist Electrocuted in Patong - Phuket Wan

A grey pall of rain shrouds Phuket City as a torrent troubles the island
Photo by phuketwan.com

Phuket Floods Tragedy: Tourist Electrocuted in Patong

By Chutima Sidasathian and Sert Tongdee
Thursday, August 25, 2011

PHUKET: A young British tourist was electrocuted as a pool of water became live today in contact with a power line as heavy overnight rain turned Patong and much of Phuket into a '' knee-deep flood zone.''

Power was reported to be out along much of Phuket's entire west coast, from Kata Noi to Kamala, with at least one regular scheduled flight unable to land at Phuket airport.

Power authorities were trying to get to the west coast to restore electricity, but were not able to cross flooded sections of roadways. Parts of Patong were said to be ''like a sea'' today.

Traffic early today across Patong Hill between Phuket City and Patong was reported to have been halted by rainwater than rose to knee-deep in places.

Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation officers were at full stretch all over Phuket, working with local councils to try to restore power and road access.

They were particularly concerned about one village in the south Phuket district of Chalong, near the TOT building, where the flooding had been very bad.

The British man, aged 20, died after being taken to Patong Hospital. He was electrocuted near the Ocean department store about 6am, police said.

It is understood he was visiting Patong with a friend. British honorary consul Martin Carpenter has been notified.

Flooding was once a regular feature of almost every downpour in Patong until relatively recently, when a new drainage system was installed.

It is not known why the new system failed to cope with last night's heavy downpour, which began about 9.30pm.

Meteorological officers said today that the rain was expected to continue through until Sunday.

People using small boats were advised that the waves would grow in height on Friday and Saturday.

Phnag Nga and Ranong are likely to experience heavier downpours than Phuket. Landslips will become a greater concern if the rain continues over the next few days.

**StrontiumDog** · 25-08-2011, 11:17 AM

Later related report, can't post due to the one article per day rule.

Phuket Flights Turn Back, Takeoffs Stop as Torrent Hits Holiday Island - Phuket Wan

Phuket Flights Turn Back, Takeoffs Stop as Torrent Hits Holiday Island

**Nokturnal** · 25-08-2011, 11:19 AM

That's scary... Just headed out for some breakfast or something and then you're a goner. RIP

FarangRed · 25-08-2011, 11:24 AM

It's not stopped for 2 days and night heavy monsoon type rain I live further south in Rawai area.

We also have new storm drains around the area but still lots of flooding due to the storm drains being blocked I have noticed recently lots of dry sand along the roads that will get washed into the drains.

I have seen the local fire engines out trying to flush away quite q few times at least they are trying.

**Cujo** · 25-08-2011, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Later related report, can't post due to the one article per day rule.

Phuket Flights Turn Back, Takeoffs Stop as Torrent Hits Holiday Island - Phuket Wan

Phuket Flights Turn Back, Takeoffs Stop as Torrent Hits Holiday Island

Phuket Flights Turn Back, Takeoffs Stop as Torrent Hits Holiday Island

By Chutima Sidasathian and Sert Tongdee
Thursday, August 25, 2011
UPDATE

A charter flight from Iran was the first aircraft to land at Phuket International Airport soon after 10am, following serious weather distruption. No flights took off or landed for a period of about 70 minutes.

Today's Updating Report

Tweet

PHUKET: Flights in and out of Phuket International Airport were thrown into chaos today as cancellations caused by massive flooding disrupted scheduling.

At 8.50am, a Phuket International Airport spokesperson said, the airport was forced to cease takeoffs and landings.

Delayed or diverted were a Tiger Airways flight from Singapore to Phuket; Bangkok Air flights from Samui and Bangkok to Phuket; a Jetstar flight from Singapore to Phuket; and an AirAsia flight from Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport to Phuket.

The final Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to Phuket last night was forced to turn back to Bangkok, Phuket airport spokesperson Panya Nantaboot told Phuketwan today.

Heavy rain that started falling on Phuket about 9.30pm continued all night and was still falling at 10am, disrupting life on the island in ways that have not been experienced since the 2004 tsnunami.

Power lines were reported to be down, electricity services cut along much of Phuket's holiday west coast, and traffic at a standstill in many parts of Phuket because of flooding.

Floodings was at its worst in the west coast holiday centre of Patong, authorities said, with water knee deep and still rising.

A young British tourist was electrocuted in a ''live'' pool of water about 6am in Patong's popular Soi Bangla walking street.

Were you hit by the downpour? Tell us via Comment below
Tweet

Phuket Flooding, Power Outages: Emergency Workers Barely Cope
Latest on Floods Emergency workers were overwhelmed and resorts all over Phuket turned to generator power as Phuket was struck by its worst flooding in years.
Phuket Flooding, Power Outages: Emergency Workers Barely Cope

WEATHER ALERT Phuket Floods Tragedy: Tourist Electrocuted in Patong
WEATHER ALERT Heavy overnight rain brought traffic in parts of Phuket to a standstill and tragedy to Patong as a young tourist was electrocuted in Patong. Doctors at Patong Hospital could not save him.

Here you go

**StrontiumDog** · 25-08-2011, 12:14 PM

Latest report...click the link to read more. Lots of detail in this one. Patong looks bad!

Phuket Flooding, Power Outages: Emergency Workers Barely Cope - Phuket Wan

Patong early today as a tuk-tuk struggles to cope in water
Photo by Peerawat Promrit

Phuket Flooding, Power Outages: Emergency Workers Barely Cope

**phunphin** · 25-08-2011, 01:56 PM

We have no water out by BIS , but that happens all the time.
On the bright side it's nice and cool.!

**StrontiumDog** · 29-08-2011, 02:11 AM

Phuket's Killer Power Point Requires Clear and Public Explanation - Phuket Wan

The spot in the Patong pavement where the power point killed
Photo by phuketwan.com

Phuket's Killer Power Point Requires Clear and Public Explanation

By Pathomporn Kaenkrachang and Alan Morison
Sunday, August 28, 2011
News Analysis

PHUKET: Police have removed the power point set into a footpath in Patong that is being blamed for causing the death of a 20-year-old British tourist in flooding rains last week.

A worker in Soi Bangla, a popular walking street that attracts thousands of tourists, told Phuketwan that police officers removed the power plug point minutes before a reporter arrived at the scene on Friday.

Others people who work close to the paved footpath section outside the Ocean Plaza department store in Soi Bangla said workers knew that the plug, set into the paving stones at ground level, could be dangerous. They avoided going near it, especially in wet weather.

Charles Antony Thomas, 20, a British tourist, had no such inside knowledge. As a visitor, he was unaware that his life was at risk in the pouring rain about 6am on Thursday morning as Patong - and large sections of Phuket - began to flood.

Witnesses report that the young man collapsed into a sitting position on top of the power plug point, with electricity charging through his body.

Mr Thomas's male friend and travelling companion has been too traumatised by the event to describe what happened, but witnesses say he and others tried to pull Mr Thomas free and were lucky to escape with their lives.

Thailand has a reputation for poor electrical wiring. Earlier this year, a Swedish couple died when their shower at a Krabi resort became ''live.'' This kind of electrical nightmare has also occurred on Phuket.

Canadian Noah Yelizarov, 19, died as a result of electrical shock on October 9, 2004, on Phuket while on holiday with three friends.

Knee-deep in flood water in Patong of the kind that covered large areas on Thursday, the young man was electrocuted when exposed wires on an electric pole sent a deadly charge through the water.

The death of Mr Thomas is now likely to renew the outcry about the shoddy standards still evidently occurring at the very heart of what is Phuket's most popular tourist destination.

Patong police have so far been reluctant to speculate about the case.

However, it seems that any one of the hundreds of thousands of visitors who have walked that popular street in rain or shine so far this year could have been a victim. For all we know, there may be other power points in pavements.

It doesn't take a master's degree in technology to know that power points should not be set in the ground anywhere, especially where thousands of people walk and where rain falls frequently in large quantities.

Local authorities are likely to be called upon to answer questions on behalf of Phuket's tourism industry.

It's expected that the British Embassy will continue to press for details about this case. Other embassies who have large numbers of visitors to Phuket will also be seeking an explanation for this needless death.

**Stinky** · 29-08-2011, 02:54 AM

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

workers knew that the plug, set into the paving stones at ground level, could be dangerous. They avoided going near it, especially in wet weather.

What an absolute mickey mouse place this is.

**Agent_Smith** · 29-08-2011, 06:46 AM

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Traffic early today across Patong Hill between Phuket City and Patong was reported to have been halted by rainwater than rose to knee-deep in places.

That is a nasty steep and windy road that is dangerous even in fair weather. I made the unwise choice of trying to negotiate downhill that road on a little Yamaha scooter in pouring rain and fortunately lived to regret it. Halfway down and hit a foot deep stream of water, took my wheels right out from under me and slid about another 50 feet or so down the road. Damn lucky I didn't get run over by traffic coming or going. Walked the bike down the rest of the way till the road leveled off at the city limits.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

It doesn't take a master's degree in technology

Sounds like a Khao San Rd degree, to me. Is there such a thing?

**superman** · 29-08-2011, 07:01 AM

This story is a copy-cat of a Pattaya accident in 2008.

<B>

British man electrocuted during flooding

Electricity authority unable to find exposed wire that caused fatal shock

Boonlua Chatree
A British man died when floodwaters caused by heavy rain engulfed an electrical cable near to where he was walking during the early hours of June 19.

The man, Scott Mitchinfow, age 32, was walking through floodwaters beside Pattaya School No 8 near Soi 17 on Pratamnak Road, on his way back to the nearby D&House Hotel, when he was electrocuted.

He was transferred unconscious to Pattaya Memorial Hospital where despite the attention of physicians he passed away.
Ms Wanida Wanit, 32, stated that she had first met the deceased when he came to her place of work, the Naughty Girls A-Go-Go on Walking Street. He went there regularly as their relationship grew. On this night he had gone to the bar and waited until she had finished work before going back to his room.

There had been heavy rain across the city for more than three hours, the volume of water and the high seas preventing fast drain-off of water and consequent flooding in many areas. Some areas were under a meter of water, notably Pattaya Second Road at South Pattaya. Cars and motorbikes were not able to get through, but the deceased was impatient and asked her to walk through the flood back to the room.

He was walking across the road through water that came up to his knees when he was electrocuted. No one dared enter the water to pull him out, so Wanida directed a baht bus to rescue him.

Pattaya Electricity Authority officials turned off the electrical power to that area, and tried to find the source of the leaking electric current. There are power lines and cables to advertising hoardings in this vicinity, but an initial examination failed to find an unprotected wire. Investigations continue.

Pattaya Mail

</B>

**Latindancer** · 29-08-2011, 08:45 AM

There was also that case about 2 years ago in Phuket in which the 17 year old son of a German father and Thai wife was killed by the electric water heater in his shower.
I wonder how many Thai people are killed in showers or bathrooms and it's unreported in the English language press ?
The various embassies should call for a total revamp of the rules for licensing of electricians. And re-testing of existing electricians.

**socal** · 29-08-2011, 08:51 AM

A 20 year old bloke that just rid himself of the white c u n t shackles. Thats a tragedy

**Latindancer** · 29-08-2011, 09:37 AM

Have been forgetting to take your medication, Socal ? Seriously.

**Cujo** · 29-08-2011, 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by Latindancer

Have been forgetting to take your medication, Socal ? Seriously.

I'm quite convinced this is socal.

**Latindancer** · 29-08-2011, 02:33 PM

Socal ? I see him as someone with a mental disorder, of which he may or may not be aware. Someone who is bitter and twisted, as he's quite used to people insulting him, possibly his whole adult life. But he has never addressed the real reason why they do, and although in a way he is mystified at why they do, he rationalizes it by telling himself that they are all assholes. He possibly has Aspergers Disorder (or perhaps Schizophrenia), and comes out with some odd and inappropriate statements at times where other people would show some empathy for those being spoken about. Quite possibly he is a sociopath. Or perhaps simply a sad alcoholic....or both. I don't know, and don't presume to judge him....I'm just analysing the symptoms he's shown.......of lack of empathy.

**Stinky** · 29-08-2011, 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by Latindancer

I'm just analysing the symptoms he's shown.......of lack of empathy.

He defiantly ticks a few of the boxes on the psychopathic tendencies page, I'll bet if he had goldfish he'd suck the oxygen out of their water.

**IceSpike** · 29-08-2011, 06:47 PM

OH SHITE!
Poor Kid, Damn, probably having the "Time of His Life" when He was Killed.

**The Bold Rodney** · 30-08-2011, 03:19 AM

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Traffic early today across Patong Hill between Phuket City and Patong was reported to have been halted by rainwater than rose to knee-deep in places.

Maybe "phuket" is gonna sink...never to be seen again!

Very sad about the young guy who was electrocuted though, RIP.

**The Bold Rodney** · 30-08-2011, 03:22 AM

Originally Posted by socal

A 20 year old bloke that just rid himself of the white c u n t shackles.

Was the guy who got electrocuted a "nigger" then?

**Charliex** · 31-08-2011, 06:27 AM

Originally Posted by socal

A 20 year old bloke that just rid himself of the white c u n t shackles. Thats a tragedy

That was my friend who has just lost his life tragically and needlessly. You think that just because you are on the internet that you won't hurt anybody and that your words don't count for anything but they do. All charlie's friends and family are distraught. He was the most gentle and thoughtful guy I have ever met so don't leave this on the other end of the search engine when we are trying to find out what on earth has happened to him. Get off the internet if you can't use it properly.

**rickschoppers** · 31-08-2011, 06:39 AM

^^
Agree and I apologize for our village idiot. My condolences.

**Mr Earl** · 31-08-2011, 07:06 AM

Originally Posted by Charliex

Get off the internet if you can't use it properly.

My condolences for the loss of your friend,
but...
The internet is for everyone to use. If you don't like how some people express themselves; tough shit! You could have ignored the obvious trolling the way most of us do.

**The Bold Rodney** · 31-08-2011, 07:26 AM

Originally Posted by Charliex

You think that just because you are on the internet that you won't hurt anybody

As "rickschoppers" says 'social" is one of our idiot Internet Idiots! (we have several for example "pupa / butters" is another)

So don't let him upset you but as far as using the Internet properly "mrearl" is right and I'm afraid it's you who can't use the Internet properly. If you don't want to read what's on Teakdoor add a filter it may save you more upset.

With regard to what happened to "Charlie" it's shocking but he got electrocuted in a very unsafe country, if you want or need to know more with respect I suggest you get off your arse and fly to Thailand because the Internet isn't renowned for it's accuracy!

**taxexile** · 31-08-2011, 07:32 AM

every time there is a thread about a tourist death the usual suspects post these unnecessary hurtful comments, knowing that relatives and friends will get to see them.

how come the mods here dont start acting responsibly for once and removing such comments.

these comments add nothing to the thread and serve no purpose whatsoever other than to insult and hurt, in the real world he would receive a smack in the mouth or worse.

If you don't want to read what's on Teakdoor add a filter it may save you more upset.

nonsense, google throws up a link and you open it, 2 days after the death of a friend or relative thousands of miles away you dont want to be confronted with shit like that.
when the subject is about a tourist death then i think mods should remove comments, they manage to have a "no insulting newbies" policy, how about a "respect for the dead and their relatives" policy. its only common decency.

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