A RESCUE team was on standby at Nai Harn beach today following the death of a tourist at Karon and a spate of New Year near-drownings.

So serious is a lack of official lifeguards now being treated that the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation sent a team of five to Nai Harn beach in case more rescues were required.

The dead woman was named as Miss Ann Carithin, 55, who was said to be staying at the Karon View Resort, Karon.

Her death from drowning was recorded in Patong Hospital at 9.27am on December 31, a DDPM official told Phuketwan.

The Governor, Dr Preecha Ruangjan, who also went to Nai Harn beach this afternoon, wants towers at Phuket beaches manned with local lifesavers who understand beach conditions.

Five people had to be saved from drowning at Nai Harn yesterday, Phuketwan has been told.

Three of the people were pulled from the water semi-conscious and were later admitted to hospital for treatment.

A bystander said he thought they were ''close to death.''

Seven people were pulled from the water there the previous day, on January 1, according to a beachfront restaurant proprietor.

Several more people had to be rescued this afternoon.

Three of the people rescued yesterday, all Thais, were kept under observation in the emergency room last night at Vachira Hospital in Phuket City, Phuketwan was told today.

One was a girl aged 13. Her rescuer, Song Saeingtong, who works on the beach, told Phuketwan that he had warned the girl about the dangerous undertows but she ignored the warning.

''Thai people do not understand that you cannot swim against a powerful current,'' he said. ''You have to let it take you out, then swim across the beach to safety.''

He said the rescue of the girl was difficult and he almost did not manage to bring her to safety. People at the beach today also ignored warnings about dangerous undertows.

''I don't want people to die on this beach,'' he said. ''But people do not listen to warnings.''

Phuketwan has been told that there are at present no official paid lifeguards on any Phuket beaches because a new contact for the Orborjor service has yet to be agreed.

The arrangement with the lifeguard group, the only one of its kind on the island, ended in October.

Khun Song, who has worked on the beach since completing primary school 18 years ago at the age of 12, said that since October, more than 60 people had been rescued.

In yesterday's close call, three Thais and two foreigners were the near-drowning victims, with one of the foreigners apparently swept into deeper water when he went to the aid of someone struggling and calling for help.

On the day the woman drowned at Karon, six other people were pulled to safety from the surf there.

Efforts are being made for the first time this high season to introduce Australian lifesaving standards and to train youngsters in safety in the water.

Department of Public Health figures for Phuket provided to Phuketwan in November showed that a total of 20 people drowned or were killed in the water up to the end of September 2008, compared to 26 deaths for the whole of 2007.

However, with the New Year holiday death toll now mounting, interest centres on fatalities on the roads.

Figures released to Phuketwan in November by the Department of Public Health showed a dramatic reduction in the numbers of traffic deaths in 2008 so far, compared to 2007.

The official figures conflict with ill-informed speculation in the English-language media of ''a road death every day'' on Phuket.

There were 198 deaths on the island's roads in 2007. The official total for 2008 is expected to be lower, not higher.

Figures should be available next week.

Phuket Road Deaths Drop, Drownings Continue
No lifeguards are manning Phuket beaches because of a gap between contracts, Phuketwan is told. And here are latest official figures on the road toll and accidents on and in the water.
Phuket Drownings Continue as Road Toll Drops

Phuket Lifesaving Gets Big Kick Up The Bum
Tight swimsuits and lashings of sunscreen mark the introduction of the surf lifesaving culture to Patong beach at Phuket's First Surf Lifesaving Carnival. Photo Album
Surf Lifesaving Gets Big Kick Up The Bum