KARON is easily Phuket's most deadly beach, with nine deaths reported there since April compared to a total of four deaths reported at other Phuket beaches.

The figure of 13 drownings in the past 10 months was revealed as Phuket Lifeguard Club concluded its contract on Saturday, leaving all of Phuket's west coast beaches without lifeguards, or in some cases with temporary replacements.

Phuket Lifeguard Club kept statistics during their tenure on the beaches, providing for the first time details on all incidents in which lifeguards were involved.

The figures reveal there were 1064 rescues of expats and 286 rescues of Thais between April and February. Karon (352 expats, 38 Thais), Patong (422 expats, 143 Thais) Kata (158 expats, 43 Thais) and Nai Harn (32 expats, 48 Thais) dominated the statistics.

Rescue figures for other protected beaches were Kata Noi (2 Thais) Ya Nui (nil) Laem Sing (1 expat) Kamala (3 expats) Surin (32 expats 8, Thais) Bang Tao (9 expats 1 Thai) Nai Thon (53 expats, 2 Thais) Nai Yang (1 Thai) Mai Khao (2 expats.)

The lifeguard tendering system for the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation requires a renewed application each year. Phuket Lifeguard Club officials are reluctant to tender again because of the short-term nature of the contract.

Water safety experts have pointed out that unless the contract is extended for renewal every two or three years instead of annually, the skills gained by the Lifeguard Club in training its lifeguards will quickly be lost because they will be forced to find other work.

Phuket aims to eventually develop a system to produce volunteer lifeguards of the kind who partol beaches in Australia and California, but a ''beach culture'' has to evolve first and that could take a generation.

Meanwhile, the international holiday island's beaches are unguarded.

Drownings can occur at any time but most drownings occur during the Phuket low season, when the monsoons trigger unseen rip currents that can quickly carry even quite strong swimmers out to sea.

This is particularly evident at Karon, where the four-kilometre stretch of sand makes protecting the entire beach impossible, and where tourists who have paid for beach holidays tend to ignore red flags and other warnings to swim.

Many visitors to Phuket are from countries without surf beaches, so there's a lack of knowledge about the dangers.

Lack of lifeguards will probably mean that the number of rescues decrease and the number of drownings increase.

People caught in a rip tend to panic, tire from struggling to swim against the pull of the water, and drown. The expert advice is to float with the current out to sea, wait until the current ceases to pull, then swim parralel to the beach before trying another route back to land.

Lack of lifeguards on Phuket for an indeterminate period was likely to be a point of discussion when new British Ambassador Asif Ahmad and Consul Michael Hancock meet first with PPAO chcief executive Paiboon Upatising and then Governor Tri Augkaradacha today.