Drained - the Terrible Fate All Expats Walking Around Phuket Dread
By Pathomporn Kaenkrachang and Sert Tongdee Tuesday, October 11, 2011
PHUKET: This dramatic photograph of an expat who slipped into a deep drain in Patong is published today for the first time.
The photograph was taken on September 27 as Kusoldharm Foundation workers struggled to free the man from his roadside ''tomb.''
The tourist had just alighted from a tuk-tuk near Nanai Road on a wet evening and slipped down a slope, into a drain.
Being a big man, he wedged in the narrow canal. The tuk-tuk driver on the scene - outside the Baan Nanai Hotel in Soi Six, Nanai Road - called police. Police in turn called the Kusoldharm Foundation.
The charity foundation workers stop at nothing to save a life. By the time the photograph was taken, they had manoeuvred the large man into a wider section of the canal.
But how to lift him out?
Before much time had passed, they managed to slip a rescue board beneath him. That gave the Kusoldharm Foundation team the leverage they needed to save the man from the Patong drain.
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Comments
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Just goes to show how many foreign tourists in Patong these days are living their lives in the sewer. How intoxicated or drugged do you have to be to fall into a huge storm drain?
Posted by
Somchai Supchavarojana
on
October 11, 2011 16:05
What a ridiculous comment Somchai. It's very likely that anyone could have done the same, intoxicated or not. You obviously do not like tourists and are probably very xenophobic.
Posted by
Mac
on
October 11, 2011 17:34
It's just a tourist, just a farang, not a thai nation.....
but it's a human!!!
Posted by
rwpsundco
on
October 11, 2011 22:28
Shame on you Somchai! Just like too low balcony railings in hotels there are no railings along ditches and sewers on Phuket.. so yes, farungs are not used to that... and rainy, slippery weather. Negligence of authorities I would say.
Posted by
Hockey
on
October 11, 2011 22:42
me I am guessing Somchai is not a Thai and is just here to tease you
Posted by
Michael
on
October 12, 2011 08:12
No comment from the Ed about Somchai's piece of crap!!?? I'm not surprised, double standard as usual.
Posted by
Jean-Paul Patrick
on
October 12, 2011 09:13
Editor Comment:
Somchai's comment is not racist. What he says about the large numbers of drunks in Patong is only a slight exaggeration. It seems to me, Jean-Paul Patrick, that you don't understand the difference between an acceptable comment and blatant bigotry. That's your problem, not Somchai's or mine.
Agreed, Ed, that Somchai's comment is not racist (a bit one-sided, perhaps). Nor is it necessarily inaccurate. What it is, though, is completely unrelated to the story at hand. There was no evidence the man in question was inebriated, or that he was engaged in a "morally depraved lifestyle." Somchai took the inappropriate opportunity to make a cheap insult, in my opinion.
Posted by
unconcerned in karon
on
October 12, 2011 11:05
Editor Comment:
Sure. And cheap insults are no cause for alarm. I publish plenty of them in relation to me, and to Phuketwan. There is a loose connection to the article, and as far as I can tell, it's Somchai's honestly-held viewpoint. I have far more sympathy for the man in the drain than Somchai does, but then the absence of compassion says a lot about Somchai. Most readers can form their own opinions on this exchange. It would be great to see more reader reprimands for all cheap insults, not just when they come from one viewpoint or the other.
Terrible ordeal this..
But, hand on heart, who didn't think something along the lines of "That really looks like the kind of obese guy that would clumsily end up in a storm drain"..I know I did. Even though I'm not exactly proud of it. I can almost hear the comments flying about "Farang Oan" and "Sum Sam"..
Posted by
christian
on
October 12, 2011 17:19
Editor Comment:
Or maybe ''narrow christian''? Bold of you to say so, good for you. I'm frequently surprised by the good-humored way Thais treat fat friends, and the way the fat friends take it in their stride.
Karma illuminates that one day there will be a news story about something unfortunate that happened to Somchai. And some rude soul will just assume it was because he was a drunk or on drugs or something else that might not be true. You get what you give in this life.
Posted by
JingJing
on
October 12, 2011 18:04
Editor Comment:
Almost all the references to karma here are negative.
Well, before anyone accuses me of being drunk or drugged (Somchai), obese or even more than a couple of kilos overweight, I'm 5' 8" and weigh 8.5 stone, pretty much the same as I did when I arrived here 10 years ago, and, two days in to my stay, trod on a metal sheet covering an open drain and promptly went straight through it. Rust, you see...
Cut my right leg a bit, but the shock of disappearing was worse. Still, lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place (in fact it wan't the same place; first time on Yaowarat Road near the TEFL school) and a few nights later in Karon I stepped on another metal sheet covering another drain and went through that one, too. Thankfully it had been raining a bit that week and the conduits had clean(-ish) water coursing through them otherwise I might not have been just drained, but somewhat "flushed", too.
Posted by
Tanya Millibank
on
October 12, 2011 20:06
Not me Christian and I'm so glad my mind is not so narrow. The rescuers did a great job and I hope the bloke is ok and laughing about it now.
Posted by
Mac
on
October 12, 2011 20:31
How is the poor chap??
Posted by
another steve
on
October 13, 2011 02:24
Editor Comment:
I wish we could find out.
(moderated)
Hey, if Somchai comment is OK - mine should be to.
Posted by
Joel M
on
October 13, 2011 05:26
Editor Comment:
There's some truth in Somchai's comment. Yours is a deliberate lie.
This problem won't happened if he buy new glass eye from TOP CHAROEN OPTICAL! Buy one pair glass eye frame until November 15, get corrective lenses 100% free. Only on Top Charone Branch on Phuket Ireland.
HALUWINE PROMOTION!!! Buy glass frame get lens free.
Posted by
Dr. Porn Wichuda
on
October 13, 2011 08:41
Editor Comment:
I see . . .
#Dr. Porn Wichuda.
What does he mean Ed? Trick or treat? We have to go to Ireland for glasses? Or is this just some ad. gone wrong? Didn't know you published commercials.
Posted by
Pete
on
October 13, 2011 12:58
Editor Comment:
Only when they are laughable.
It constantly amazes me how people on this site use the misfortune of others to push forward their speculation stated as fact. While I didn't come to the same conclusion as Christian I can understand his point. He may have thought it but he didn't post it.
I hope the guy is recovering and that everyone has a happy Haluwine on Phuket Ireland. I think I will dress as Saint Pat-O'Pornathit this year.
Posted by
Martin
on
October 13, 2011 13:00
Dr. Porn Wichuda perhaps you should invest in a pair of the highly recommended glasses to check your English a little bit more closely. Or maybe just buy an English dictionary, which ever is cheaper.
Posted by
phuket madness
on
October 13, 2011 13:33
Dear Dr. Porn,
so your glas eye will help not to become entrapped in dark holes in Patong? That's a pretty bold promise. Hope your frames stand up to it. I'm coming.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Dundee.
Posted by
Tom Dundee
on
October 13, 2011 15:27
Oh Ed you support Somchai and his nasty opinion because he's Thai, plain and simple.
Imagine this the other way around, Thai fallen down hole, & foreigners post silly comments, you would have come down on them like to ton of bricks.
Your positive descrimination is embarrasing, do you wear a yellow shirt and Buddha round your neck to try and curry favor....
Posted by
Same old
on
October 13, 2011 22:37
Editor Comment:
Somchai was simply repeating what other people have said in other threads: that Patong is full of unwanted drunks. Hardly fair to permit expats to say that, but not allow a Thai to say the same thing. I curry fairness, Same old, not favor.
You were at one point different from ThaiVisa, but you are edging closer to being quite similar.
Less interesting news, more focus on comments mayhem. Get out there and dig, screw hanging out in the comment queue.
Posted by
JingJing
on
October 14, 2011 03:55
Editor Comment:
Forgive me for laughing. I do hope you are taking your own advice in that last sentence, JingJing.
More to the point - why do the police have to ring a volunteer organisation to rescue someone, and not a Govt, tax funded dept? and why are there a big holes everywhere. Poor Planning and Execution would be my guess.
Hats off to Kusoldharm Foundation.
Posted by
Junior
on
October 19, 2011 14:21
Editor Comment:
It's a different culture, Junior. Thailand's charitable foundations are good at what they do, so good that the foreign rescue services that came to help during the 2004 tsunami admitted they were no match for the Thai system. If there's big trouble, Thais turn out in large numbers to help. You just don't get that in countries where people expect everything to be done for them because they pay taxes.
There's another big cultural difference: while people use expletives in everyday language in places without proper standards, swearing is not tolerated in Thailand and could get you into big trouble. I've removed the unnecessary expletives.
Perhaps Evesham and Phuket could be twinned? http://www.eveshamjournal.co.uk/news/9380728.Woman_falls_into_manhole/
Posted by
Tanya Millibank
on
November 26, 2011 00:51
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I am continually impressed by the Kusoldharm people.
Posted by ssresident on October 11, 2011 15:17