PHUKET: Three divers recovered the body of a young Phuket landscape gardener who drowned in a lily pond yesterday.
Anucha Petdong, 25, said he and his friend, Kertakul Sukdang, 18, often frolicked in a pond at Laem Hin on Phuket after returning from a day's work at Ko Yao Resort, on a nearby island.
The pond is near the well-known Laem Hin seafood restaurants, on Phuket's east coast.
''We were in the water about 5pm and my friend just disappeared,'' Khun Anucha said.
Three Phuket Kusoldharm Foundation divers took 30 minutes to recover the young man's body. He was taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket City.
Statistics on the number of people who drown on Phuket were released on a monthly basis until April last year, when Phuket Public Health ceased the monthly updates it had issued for years.
People on Phuket no longer know whether there are a greater number of drownings on Phuket, or whether the awareness campaigns being conducted by Phuketwan and other media was helping to reduce the toll.
Our own records show that eight tourists drowned on Phuket's popular west coast beaches between mid-May and mid-July last year, the dangerous onset of the monsoon season.
The latest annual figures we have, for 2011, show there were 40 drownings on Phuket in that year. This is down on the toll of 57 in 2009.
Figures for drownings and the road toll on Phuket in 2012 have not been released. No updates have been issued since April.
Anucha Petdong, 25, said he and his friend, Kertakul Sukdang, 18, often frolicked in a pond at Laem Hin on Phuket after returning from a day's work at Ko Yao Resort, on a nearby island.
The pond is near the well-known Laem Hin seafood restaurants, on Phuket's east coast.
''We were in the water about 5pm and my friend just disappeared,'' Khun Anucha said.
Three Phuket Kusoldharm Foundation divers took 30 minutes to recover the young man's body. He was taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket City.
Statistics on the number of people who drown on Phuket were released on a monthly basis until April last year, when Phuket Public Health ceased the monthly updates it had issued for years.
People on Phuket no longer know whether there are a greater number of drownings on Phuket, or whether the awareness campaigns being conducted by Phuketwan and other media was helping to reduce the toll.
Our own records show that eight tourists drowned on Phuket's popular west coast beaches between mid-May and mid-July last year, the dangerous onset of the monsoon season.
The latest annual figures we have, for 2011, show there were 40 drownings on Phuket in that year. This is down on the toll of 57 in 2009.
Figures for drownings and the road toll on Phuket in 2012 have not been released. No updates have been issued since April.
