A search resumed at 6am today for a tourist from Bahrain who went missing in surf at Karon beach yesterday.


THE drowning and disappearance of three tourists within 17 days is likely to trigger concern at the highest levels about safety on the beaches of Phuket.

Lifeguards using searchlights scanned the seas off Karon beach until late last night but there was no sign of Bahrain tourist Ali Alsaeed, 25, who vanished in the water about 3pm on an afternoon of tragedy.

Almost at the same time yesterday afternoon, China tourist Chao Dakun, aged about 40, was plucked from the water at neighboring Kata beach and taken to Patong Hospital. Doctors were unable to save him from drowning.

Lifeguards were aghast after a weekend of horror on Phuket's holiday beaches. On Saturday, six schoolchildren were pulled from the water in a mass rescue at Nai Harn, a southern beach. Two required hospital treatment.

Lifeguard sources say four people have drowned at Karon-Kata beaches since April.

Unless there is what one expert calls a ''coordinated response'' to the issue of safety in the water, Phuket's image as a safe year-round destination for travellers is likely to be tarnished - and Phuket could possibly even be subjected to national travel alerts.

The wife of the tourist from China was by his side at Patong Hospital last night, unable to speak the same language as most of the people around her.

A spokesperson for the Lifeguard Club of Phuket said that Chao Dakun's wife continued to talk to her husband after his death. She sobbed as she reviewed on a digital camera the final photographs of she and her husband, happy on the beach earlier in the afternoon.

Another Bahrain tourist, a friend of Ali Alsaeed, was pulled safely from the water by lifeguards and resuscitated. He also sobbed on Karon beach as he realised his pal had gone forever. Two other friends who had chosen not to swim were with him.

Two expat teachers were the first to reach the drowning man at Kata beach after he was struck by a ''dumper'' wave and swept off his feet. The lifeguards arrived soon after.

Ironically, the undermanned and underfunded Phuket lifeguards have been highlighting the need for community action since the drowning of Romanian Gheorghe Paulivc on July 20. Five friends witnessed Mr Paulivc's lingering death from drowning over the next two days.

Resorts all over the island are being asked to warn visitors to Phuket at this time of year that they put themselves in danger by ignoring red flags and other signage designed to protect them.

An email to resort GMs from the Lifeguard Club of Phuket offers a simple warning and provides versions in eight languages.

''The simple rules to keep safe at the beach and in the sea

''Find the red & yellow flags and swim between them
Observe and obey the safety signs
Ask a lifeguard for advice on current sea condition
Get a friend to swim with you
Stick your hand in the air and shout for help when in difficulty
Never swim where a sign says NOT to or when a red flag is flying''

Experts in water safety say that the message needs to be delivered when the visitors first arrive on the island during the April-October monsoon season and reinforced at every opportunity. On arrival at reception would be a good starting point.

Otherwise, people who have been enticed to come to Phuket for a beach holiday will ignore the warnings and swim in unsafe surf.

A spokesperson for the Lifeguard Club told Phuketwan today: ''The Chinese death was so sad because the guide had warned them not to swim at Kata and Karon. And yes, they still swam.''

Failure to reduce the number of drownings on Phuket is likely to bring national travel alerts, especially in the markets that Phuket is aiming to attract - the Middle East and China.

Phuket's lifeguards are hampered by a lack of quality equipment, sufficient numbers, and training. The system that put the current team in place in late April involves a tendering process - which minimises corruption - but also minimises the chances of establishing career professional lifeguards on Phuket.

Lifeguards report large numbers of rescues since late April - 346 involving 221 expats and 125 Thais, with 15 people requiring hospital treatment. According to their stats, there have been 254 ''nearly drownings'' in which people were saved by lifeguards.

One resort, Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort, is combining with the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation to run a five-day training session for 60 of Phuket's lifeguards and Navy personnel early next month.

But training is just one aspect of the complex issue of saving tourists and Thais from drowning on Phuket. Preventing needless deaths requires awareness and action - especially by Phuket's resorts. While some do the right thing and already warn of the dangers, many others do not.

The toll of tourists who have drowned at Karon especially leaves the beach, regarded as safe like most Phuket beaches in the non-monsoon season, in danger of compulsory closure or national travel alerts.

The Bahraini tourists, according to a lifeguard at the beach, had no idea that the red flags indicated it was unsafe to swim.

The lifeguard spokesperson said: ''Amid this tragedy, I found one managing director that would love to have my beach water safety information, Golden Beach Tour Co. Ltd. I will send this information to him - and hope that this would be forward to hundreds more.''

Phuket's future as a year-round beach destination may depend on other reacting speedily and responsibly, like Golden Beach Tour.

Today's Gulf Daily News reported that the weekend disappearance of Ali Alsaeed follows the death of Bahraini Ahmed Karam Toorani, 41, in August, 2004, when he drowned while trying to rescue his children in the sea at Karon beach.

The GDN reported that the father-of-three died as he was trying to rescue his two sons, Murtaza, 15, and Mahdi, 11, who were caught by a wave which dragged them into the water.

Mr Toorani, his wife Sonya Taher and brother-in-law Ahmed Taher raced into the sea to save them.

However, the waves were too big and they were pulled under the water.

It was only after fellow holidaymakers ran to their aid that Ms Taher, her brother and the two children were rescued.