Phuket's Nai Harn beach, where the Australian went missing today
Photo by phuketwan.com


Update: Missing Aussie Found Safe off Phuket


Update: Missing Aussie Found Safe off Phuket - Phuket Wan

By Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison
Sunday, October 18, 2009
FOUND SAFE! That was the good news today after an alarm about an Australian tourist who went missing while swimming off Nai Harn.

An alert beach attendant did the right thing, using a pair of binoculars to scan the sea and Koh Mun, where the man was aiming to go, and . . . bingo!

There he was, safe and sound on the island, waving his hands in the hope that someone would spot him.


''It was wonderful to not have another drowning,'' said beach attendant Song Saengtong. He had been alerted by walkie talkie that a tourist was missing from the beachfront Royal Phuket Yacht Club, where Robert Deane and wife Robin were guests.

Late this afternoon a kayak was sent across the 1.5 kilometres from Nai Harn to Koh Mun to bring back Mr Deane, 55, who lives and works in Singapore.

He has been swimming to the island every day around lunchtime but today, something went wrong. Chalong police were called late in the afternoon and told that Mr Deane was five hours overdue.

Honorary consul Larry Cunningham said Mr Deane told him that he had slipped over on the rocks, and was knocked unconscious when he fell.

An ambulance was treating Mr Deane for cuts and bruises. ''I'm fine,'' he told the paramedics. ''I'll be back in the water tomorrow.''

There was a genuine air of relief because Phuket has had a spate of drownings this monsoon season.

It would have been cruel to have another fatality at a beach on a day when seas were relatively calm and safe, more like they become every high season.

It would also have been a particularly tragic week for Australians, with tourist Brian Martin Hickey, 45, found dead in bed at the PS2 Inn on Thursday. He and his wife had been guests at the Holiday Inn.

The Phuket Public Health Department reported five drownings in September, bringing the toll for the year to 47.

While the figure includes the seven victims of a dive boat capsize in March, fishing mishaps and pool deaths, many of the deaths have been on Phuket's popular western beaches.

The need for better safety on the beaches becomes more obvious when the figure of 47 deaths is compared with the road toll of 122 for the same period.