PHUKET: Who is the man who drowned at Nai Harn beach on Tuesday? Today Phuketwan takes the unprecedented step of publishing his photograph, in the hope that he will be identified.
His body is in the morgue at Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket City. The body will be buried in a pauper's unmarked grave on Phuket after 15 days if he is not identified in the meantime.
If you wish to see what the man looks like, go into the photo album above. There is nothing grisly or frightening about this man's photo in death - or we would not be publishing it.
We are simply concerned to prevent him being buried and forgotten if he has a loving family and friends who may not have yet noticed he is missing.
The man has a grey beard, spiky eyebrows, and a bent nose. He was wearing a gold earring, a gold finger ring and a crucifix on a gold chain around his neck.
He has some distinctive tattoos, and we have reproduced sandy photographs of those, too.
The man, aged 55 to 65, was pulled from the water at Nai Harn alive, but died before reaching hospital. Two Chinese caught in the same rip current that day were rescued.
The only other clue is the brown check trunks that he was wearing.
The man's death brought the total number of drownings on Phuket this monsoon season to six in the space of a month and a day, an alarming number.
Much more effort needs to be applied by officials, resorts and lifeguards to prevent further drownings.
If you recognise the man, please email editor@phuketwan.com or call +66 76 255115.
June 19 Unidentified Western man aged about 60 drowns at Nai Harn as red flags fly. Two Chinese tourists, a man and a woman, are rescued.
June 12 American university student Joshua Shane, 21, goes missing at Patong on a late-night swim with friends. His body is found on June 14. Another swimmer requires hospital treatment.
June 8 A tourist from Egypt and a tourist from Kuwait, visiting Phuket, go on a whitewater adventure tour north of Phuket with friends. The friends are rescued when a monsoon-boosted stream overturns their raft. The two men drown.
June 2 A young Thai visitor from Bangkok, Austatiwood Prommarat, 18, disappears into the surf at Patong after he and a relative allegedly hang their shirts on a warning red flag before going into the water. The relative is rescued.
May 31 An American kite surfer collapses in the shallows at Nai Harn, Phuket's most southerly beach, and dies soon after. His death may not have been a drowning but possibly a heart attack.
May 30 Russian tourist Denis Korobogatov, 33, appears to be caught by a ''rip'' tide at Karon beach and dragged to his death.
May 27 Phuket's lifeguards, absent from Phuket beaches for seven weeks because of a contractual dispute, return to daily patrols of Phuket's 13 most popular west coast beaches.
May 20 On a day's outing to difficult-to-access Freedom Beach, between Patong and Karon, Frenchman Stephane Dacosta, 32, disappears into the water. He washes ashore at nearby Kata beach a day later.
May 18 With lifeguards absent from all of Phuket's beaches, Angelo Piazza, 53, disappears into the surf at Karon beach, south of Patong, and drowns.
The figure of seven beach deaths on Phuket between May 18 and June 19 contrasts with just five drownings recorded for the whole of Phuket - including deaths in ponds and canals as well as beaches - in the first four months of the year.
His body is in the morgue at Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket City. The body will be buried in a pauper's unmarked grave on Phuket after 15 days if he is not identified in the meantime.
If you wish to see what the man looks like, go into the photo album above. There is nothing grisly or frightening about this man's photo in death - or we would not be publishing it.
We are simply concerned to prevent him being buried and forgotten if he has a loving family and friends who may not have yet noticed he is missing.
The man has a grey beard, spiky eyebrows, and a bent nose. He was wearing a gold earring, a gold finger ring and a crucifix on a gold chain around his neck.
He has some distinctive tattoos, and we have reproduced sandy photographs of those, too.
The man, aged 55 to 65, was pulled from the water at Nai Harn alive, but died before reaching hospital. Two Chinese caught in the same rip current that day were rescued.
The only other clue is the brown check trunks that he was wearing.
The man's death brought the total number of drownings on Phuket this monsoon season to six in the space of a month and a day, an alarming number.
Much more effort needs to be applied by officials, resorts and lifeguards to prevent further drownings.
If you recognise the man, please email editor@phuketwan.com or call +66 76 255115.
Drownings on Phuket May 18-June 19
June 19 Unidentified Western man aged about 60 drowns at Nai Harn as red flags fly. Two Chinese tourists, a man and a woman, are rescued.
June 12 American university student Joshua Shane, 21, goes missing at Patong on a late-night swim with friends. His body is found on June 14. Another swimmer requires hospital treatment.
June 8 A tourist from Egypt and a tourist from Kuwait, visiting Phuket, go on a whitewater adventure tour north of Phuket with friends. The friends are rescued when a monsoon-boosted stream overturns their raft. The two men drown.
June 2 A young Thai visitor from Bangkok, Austatiwood Prommarat, 18, disappears into the surf at Patong after he and a relative allegedly hang their shirts on a warning red flag before going into the water. The relative is rescued.
May 31 An American kite surfer collapses in the shallows at Nai Harn, Phuket's most southerly beach, and dies soon after. His death may not have been a drowning but possibly a heart attack.
May 30 Russian tourist Denis Korobogatov, 33, appears to be caught by a ''rip'' tide at Karon beach and dragged to his death.
May 27 Phuket's lifeguards, absent from Phuket beaches for seven weeks because of a contractual dispute, return to daily patrols of Phuket's 13 most popular west coast beaches.
May 20 On a day's outing to difficult-to-access Freedom Beach, between Patong and Karon, Frenchman Stephane Dacosta, 32, disappears into the water. He washes ashore at nearby Kata beach a day later.
May 18 With lifeguards absent from all of Phuket's beaches, Angelo Piazza, 53, disappears into the surf at Karon beach, south of Patong, and drowns.
The figure of seven beach deaths on Phuket between May 18 and June 19 contrasts with just five drownings recorded for the whole of Phuket - including deaths in ponds and canals as well as beaches - in the first four months of the year.
Maybe the markings in the jewellery can give a clue, where it was bought/manufactured?
Posted by me on June 22, 2012 14:08