Thread: Phuket : Fears grow for Aussie missing off Thai beach

Fears grow for Aussie missing off Thai beach


Jennifer Laidley went missing from Karon beach, which is notorious for rips at this time of year
(ABC Local: Dan Fraser)

• Related Story: Australian woman missing off Thai beach

Fears are mounting for a New South Wales woman missing off a beach in Thailand as concerns are raised about the severe limitations of the search mission.

Jennifer Laidley, also known as Jennifer May, from Queanbeyan, south-east of Canberra, went for a swim on Monday night at a dangerous Phuket beach.

The 44-year-old nurse has not been seen since.

The Foreign Affairs Department says Australian consular officials are liaising with Thai authorities over the disappearance and search.

But an Australian journalist in Phuket, Alan Morison, says the search is extremely limited.

"Unless the circumstances are exceptional they seldom put something in the air, so there are no helicopters or planes," he said.

"So being a search by boats it's always going to be a bit unclear as to what they might find and when.

"The worst is feared and the concern is that Jennifer is dead."

Ms Laidley had been at the beach on holiday with her Sydney friend Lisa Crosland, who reported her missing.

The pair were on their first trip to the area.

Karon beach is notorious for rips during the April to November monsoon season.

Consular officers in Canberra are in contact with the woman's family in Australia.

xxx.xxx.xx

Thought that a body was spotted yesterday?
Can't find the link.

''We went to the beach and noticed warnings signs and that the red flags were flying. After dinner, Jenny decided that she's like to go for a swim, so I didn't want her to go alone.

''I wear glasses and I didn't take them to the beach with me, so I couldn't see very well. I stayed waist-deep but Jenny wanted to take the plunge and went out a lot further.

''Then I went back to the resort to get my glasses, and when i came back to the beach I couldn't see Jenny at all.

Stupid.Fucking.Bitch.

The full Phuketwan update:

PHUKET: A major search on sea and land was underway on Phuket today for a female Australian tourist who went for a swim at dusk last night at Phuket's notorious Karon beach then vanished.

The woman, who had just arrived on Phuket for a holiday, told her travelling companion that she was going for a swim, even though it was 7pm and the sun had set.





The friend reported the woman missing last night, when the first brief search began. Today, Thai Royal Navy, Marine Police, lifeguards and regular police were involved from first light in an extensive search.

Police named the missing woman as Jennifer Laidley, 44, from Queanbeyan, near Canberra, and her friend as Lisa Crosland, also 44, from Sydney.

The two were both nurses and had been friends for 20 years, working together at St Vincents in Sydney, Ms Crosland told Phuketwan this afternoon as she waited on Karon beach for a sign of her friend.

''I hope she is safe. Jenny is inclined to be a little bit impetuous at times,'' Mr Crosland said. ''We arrived about noon yesterday and had a really good time looking around.

''We went to the beach and noticed warnings signs and that the red flags were flying. After dinner, Jenny decided that she's like to go for a swim, so I didn't want her to go alone.

''I wear glasses and I didn't take them to the beach with me, so I couldn't see very well. I stayed waist-deep but Jenny wanted to take the plunge and went out a lot further.

''Then I went back to the resort to get my glasses, and when i came back to the beach I couldn't see Jenny at all.

''I waded back in and couldn't see her, even with my glasses. About 7.45pm I reported her missing to the police.

''They came back to the beach and shone their torches, but we couldn't see her. There wasn't a lot we could do.

''I got back here at 8am and have been watching and waiting ever since.''

Ms Crosland said she and her friend first met at university and had planned then to take a trip overseas, but had put it off for two decades. It was the pair's first trip to Phuket.

''Jenny contacted me and told me it was time we made a trip. I said, 'I'll leave it up to you.''

Ms Crosland said she did not think the swim after a big dinner was ''such a crash hot idea,'' but decided to splash in the shallows while her friend took a plunge into the surf.

''The waves were big, crashing you around,'' she said. ''I was a bit of a chicken, really.''

Karon beach has claimed more lives than any other Phuket beach in recent years, with lifeguards aware of the dangers in daylight. At night, it's not safe to swim.

Lifeguards and Phuketwan have been conducting a campaign for all Phuket resorts to inform guests the minute they check in about the dangers at Karon and other beaches where rips are created during the April-November monsoon season.

Originally Posted by Mid

Jennifer May, from Queanbeyan, south-east of Canberra,

Holy shit that's the area I grew up and have some land there. Don't know the name but probably know someone who knows her. Hope they find her but it doesn't look good.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

The full Phuketwan update:

''The waves were big, crashing you around,'' she said. ''I was a bit of a chicken, really.''

Being a bit of a chicken saved your life love!

Why don't people read about places before they go there on holiday? There has been so much, over the past few months, about how dangerous that beach is.

Originally Posted by patsycat

Why don't people read about places before they go there on holiday? There has been so much, over the past few months, about how dangerous that beach is.

Youth, ignorance and alcohol? Not so in this case a 44 year old nurse and by the sounds of it they hadn't been partying. Maybe her death will save others yet you just know there will be more drownings on that beach.

Originally Posted by patsycat

Why don't people read about places before they go there on holiday? There has been so much, over the past few months, about how dangerous that beach is.

Why don't people read what is posted in the thread?

''We went to the beach and noticed warnings signs and that the red flags were flying. After dinner, Jenny decided that she's like to go for a swim, so I didn't want her to go alone."

Sad and sadder but unbelievable how people can ignore red flags and swim at dusk after eating.......
As you say, stupid, stupid, stupid.

I don't actually think that was what he said, do you?

But then he is. A. Stupid. Ignorant. Cvnt.

Come on then The Gent.

I suppose the chicken heads are to blame for this ?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Ms Crosland said she did not think the swim after a big dinner was ''such a crash hot idea,'' but decided to splash in the shallows while her friend took a plunge into the surf.

''The waves were big, crashing you around,'' she said. ''I was a bit of a chicken, really.''

Oh the Irony

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

''Then I went back to the resort to get my glasses, and when i came back to the beach I couldn't see Jenny at all.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Stupid.Fucking.Bitch.

Night Glasses "arry" night vision glasses?

July 7, 2011
The body washed ashore on Phuket's Karon Beach this morning has been identified as that of Canberra Hospital nurse Jennifer Laidley who went missing on Monday.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed the identity of the body this afternoon.


Body on Thai beach that of Aussie tourist

R.I.P Jennifer

So they had all these people looking for her, and she "washed ashore"?

Ah, Phuket and its "manhunts", they're fucking legendary.

PHUKET: A Phuket lifeguard this morning found the body of missing Australian tourist Jennifer Laidley.

Uten Singsom, head of the Phuket Lifeguard Club contingent assigned to patrol Karon beach, said the discovery was made by fellow lifeguard Phachoke Jamjareonjan at about 8:15am today.

The body, recovered about one kilometer offshore from Nong Harn Lagoon at the north end of the beach, was immediately transported to Vachira Phuket Hospital.

Ms Laidley’s companion Lisa Cosland confirmed the identity this morning before her flight home to Australia this afternoon.

Ms Cosland said she wanted to thank the Karon Municipality Tourist Rescue service and all the other organizations who took part in the search for her friend.

The death reconfirms Karon’s reputation as the most deadly beach in Phuket because of its strong rip currents and long length, making it difficult to thoroughly patrol.

Lifeguards have repeatedly reported the biggest problem in safeguarding tourists' lives has being overconfident swimmers, mostly foreigners, ignoring the red “No Swimming” signs and entering the surf.

Many tourists believe it is safe to swim as long as they do not go in over their heads, but quickly panic and drown when knocked over by large waves or undertow and find themselves swept seaward by the strong current.

Many who have died in this way were experienced swimmers, including one 25-year-old lifeguard from Bahrain who drowned at Karon Beach in August last year.