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Gao Yang at Phuket's Cape Promthep before he vanished

UPDATE Body of Missing Cape Tourist Found in Sea Off Phuket

Friday, November 22, 2013
UPDATE: The missing tourist's body has been found at 11:24am this morning by the search and rescue team between Lone Island and He Island. His body has now been transferred to Vachira Phuket Hospital.

PHUKET: The parents of missing tourist Gao Yang are due to fly to Phuket from China while a professor will be arriving tomorrow from Singapore, where the 20-year-old was a university exchange student.

Hopes are fading that he will be found safe after being washed into the sea while on a hike with three friends yesterday at Cape Promthep, an iconic Phuket tourist viewpoint.

Incidents such as this one are rare at the cape, which is visited by hundreds of people each evening for the spectacular sunsets. Phuket Governor Maitree Intrusud went to the cape today to see for himself the area where Gao Yang vanished.

Rescuers were still looking for the young man - the only child in the family - today but the changes that he will be found safe are slim.

One of the issues that Phuket constantly faces is fulfilling international expectations for tourism safety.

Advanced Asian cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore leave no stone unturned in guarding the safety of citizens and visitors.

Phuket, however, has yet to develop the same level of intensity that makes protecting lives the most important task of all authorities.

Comments

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Tragic accident, but erecting warning signs on all wet slippery rocks on Phuket or anywhere else seems rather unrealistic.

Posted by Sherlock on November 21, 2013 19:07

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Pray for Gao Yang

Posted by Foxism on November 21, 2013 22:21

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[quote]
Incidents such as this one are rare at the cape,
[/quote]

They are rare, but I recall reading of tourist deaths at this location on previous occasions.

Whilst some may question the stupidity of these young men to clamber over slippery rocks and risk their lives for a photo, actions by tourists on many occasions (for example, the many drownings), demonstrates that many tourists, especially those who visit from land-locked countries, simply do not comprehend the dangers of the sea.

What's the answer? My own suggestion would be to fund a new team of Tourist Assistance Officers, (not tourist police), whose job would be to look after visiting tourists, just as a mother looks after her precious baby.

These would not be volunteer roles - each member would receive a realistic wage, and positions would be open to either Thai or foreign nationals.

Those team members would be stationed at each and every location where tourists gather, such as the Cape, all beaches, bus station, airport etc etc.

Expensive to fund? Overkill? The cost would be a drop in the ocean when compared to the continuing damage done to Phuket's reputation by these deaths and accidents.

Phuket needs to look after each and every tourist, even the stupid and naive ones.

Simon

Posted by Simon Luttrell on November 22, 2013 06:58

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@ Simon "Phuket needs to look after each and every tourist, even the stupid and naive ones."

Totally agree. Some of these tourists come from landlocked countries or safe countries like Singapore and do not know the true nature of the sea.
Some sort of education to warn them not to underestimate nature would be good, an introductory video on their flights over to Thailand, something running on Phuket cable channels that a majority of the hotels are using.

Posted by May on November 22, 2013 10:46

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missing tourist's body? We are still hoping him to come back.

Posted by Anonymous on November 22, 2013 14:21

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Wall said Simon and a good suggestion made.

Park Rangers in the US offer such assistance, among other duties and often provide interesting information about the site most would otherwise miss.

However to suggest to Phuket authorities they should spend money on visitors in ways that do not result in direct, verifiable revenue and profit is like flogging a dead horse.

Posted by ThaiMike on November 22, 2013 14:29

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Why would a sign have prevented this unlucky fellow to do what he did? That is just guesswork. An educated guess would be, that he would not care or even noticed the sign, as he thought himself capable of handling the obvious: the stones, the wet and the water. A sensations seeker, lethally misjudging a situation. RIP.

This kind of accident is quite common btw. mostly with angler washed away from stones.

Posted by Lena on November 22, 2013 22:09


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