|
|
Click a thumbnail to view more photographs
Young Phuket Playmates Drown in Canal Double-Tragedy
By Sert Tongdee Saturday, September 24, 2011
PHUKET: Two young boys drowned in a Phuket canal this afternoon - a shocking tragedy that has left two neighboring families in despair.
The boys were playing with two other youngsters at the Mudong Canal in Vichit, south of Phuket City, when the alarm was raised about 4.30pm.
Pinian ''Gott'' Na Roi-Ead, aged five, was the first to be found. Emergency workers rushed him to Vachira Hospital in Phuket City, but doctors and nurses could not revive him.
The body of his playmate, Wannawoot Tanakan, aged six, was found about 40 minutes later.
Khun Gott was the adopted son of La-Ongsri Deesamer, 46, who said she had cared for him since he was 25 days old.
Khun La-Ongsri's natural son, aged six, was also playing beside the canal this afternoon with his adopted brother.
The parents of both the drowned boys live near the canal. Khun La-Ongsri runs a somtam papaya salad stall near the Rimlay Restaurant.
Emergency workers speculated that one of the boys may have gotten into difficulties and the other boy went to his assistance.
The canal is swollen with heavy rains this month and flowing more rapidly than usual.
A joint Australia-Thai project is underway to establish a lifesaving and learn-to-swim centre on Phuket at Nai harn beach, but the project is in its early stages.
Learn-to-swim classes are being taught more regularly on Phuket, although many non-swimming Phuket parents remain fearful that their children will never be safe in the water. A young boy who survived the tragedy that killed a friend at a Phuket beach asks: 'Where's Max? Where's Max?' The island should be asking, 'Where are the lifesavers?'
Phuket Drowning: 'Where's Max? Where's Max?'
Phuket Sister in Coma Dies from Drowning
Latest A young girl dies from drowning after being plucked unconscious from the water at a Phuket beach. The island's popular holiday swimming spots have remained unguarded since November.
Phuket Sister in Coma Dies from Drowning
Phuket Beach Swim Trauma Strikes Four Sisters
UPDATE Four sisters struggled in the sea off a Phuket beach with no lifeguards and one of the girls now lies in a coma and will be fortunate to survive,
Phuket Beach Swim Trauma Strikes Four Sisters
Young Sisters Drown in Patong Canal
Latest One sister went to the rescue of the other, but both drowned in a tragedy that highlights the need for swimming lessons to save lives.
Young Sisters Drown in Patong Canal
Phuket Water Safety Backed By Aussies
Photo Album Work will begin soon on a beachside centre for training that should improve the standards for lifeguards as well as educating Thai children about water safety.
Phuket Water Safety Backed By Aussies
Phuket's Riskiest Beach: Where the Killer Rips Pull and Drown
Latest A meeting of lifeguards, authorities, vendors and resorts hears what can be done to prevent more beach drownings on Phuket in future.
Phuket's Riskiest Beach: Where the Killer Rips Pull and Drown
|
Comments
Comments have been disabled for this article.
My heartfelt condolences go out to the families. But why were two children, at that age, allow to play near water unattended?
Posted by
Graham
on
September 25, 2011 12:48
Graham
This is a common problem for many a farang to understand, the reckelssness and irresponsible behaviour in developing countries, including Thailand. Ive seen it in China, parts of Africa, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos etc etc. To make an analogy to the 12.000 people per year that die in the traffic in Thailand each year: How can people drive around on motorbikes in the most reckless and dangerous of manners, when, if a person ends up in an accident it often means COMPLETE ruin to your family? Your probably not rich enough to have a first class insurance when you drive a motorbike, so an accident WILL mean becoming unemployed, your familys savings WILL go to your hospital bills and you might even end up indebting the people you love FOR LIFE! And still people zig zag like maniacs on the road absolutely EVERWHERE. Its doesnt make sense, and its impossible to explain. Education and living standards have nothing to do with it, it does not take a degree to understand what I explain above. Its unexplainable. People in developing countries are just generally really really reckless.
Posted by
christian
on
September 25, 2011 16:27
Editor Comment:
Perhaps Swedes realise how road safety works in the womb, but in most other Western countries, especially those that didn't learn quickly about the link between the impetuosity of youth, alcohol and speed, and the foolish belief they were immortal, roads were once every bit as unsafe in the west as they are now in developing countries. It's just part of growing up and getting a good education. And there are just as many sane and sensible people on the roads in developing countries as there were back in less well-informed days in the west. Road safety - and water safety - have to be learned. And if they are not taught, they are not learned.
christian, thanks for that ignorant, arrogant contribution. Now please leave Thailand.
Posted by
Somchai Supchavarojana
on
September 25, 2011 22:47
Ed
The problem with what you are saying is that nobody in Thailand (or any other country I mentioned) can claim to not be "well-informed"..Sri Lanka has a very educated population overall, Thailand has more or less zero illiteracy, ALL of those maniacs have access to the internet etc etc. They are as much connected to the modern world as any one of us. Education? How educated do you have to be to understand that overtaking wildly and risk a frontal collission head on with a truck MIGHT hurt you? And, no, the people driving like psychos on the roads are not "drunk young and wild turks" but the average person working at any normal place like a hotel, bank or whatever. You make it sound like they are so underdeveloped that they can't comprehend basic physical laws. Thai people ARE very irresponsible in very many situations. Like they are in many developing countries..Why? its a mystery to me. Especially with the VERY serious (financially, professionally) consequences for not only themselves but to their whole family.
Logically, an educated, litterate adult person who cant afford good insurance and drive a motorbike, sometimes with small kids barely hanging on, should be driving EXTREMELY carefully, slow and passively. Is that your experience here? No, not mine either. And its a total mystery. Ive stopped caring about it a long long time ago. Why? Because we are talking about adult NOT mentally ill persons, who really should know better. But they still continue to drive like suicidal morons.
Posted by
christian
on
September 25, 2011 22:58
Editor Comment:
Let's forget the ''any one of us'' stuff, christian, along with ''they.'' That's evidence of bigotry. And zero illiteracy means full literacy. You have your wires badly crossed and continue to reveal illogical prejudice.You give ''us'' a bad name. If you don't understand Asia or Asians, stay in Sweden, please.
Ed
Its not about "asians", its about any developing country in the world, and the less wealthy people in those countries, which is very clear if you read my post. Its just illogical to me that the people most vulnerable in a traffic accident are also often the most reckless. If you dont agree, then say so. Otherwise YOU can go back to whatever country you came from, and bring your rose tinted "pro-asian" glasses with you. I know MANY "asians" including many thais, like my own wife for example, and some really good friends that are thai as well that are as appalled and mystified as I am, but that probably makes them less than real "thai" to you?
Personal attacks are totally uncalled for.
Posted by
christian
on
September 26, 2011 21:19
Editor Comment:
I don't make personal attacks. Nor do I wear ''pro-Asian rose tinted glasses,'' christian, any more than you wear race-colored ones. But sweeping generalisations don't solve anything, only increase the divide between your ''us'' and your ''them.'' I certainly don't see the world the way you do. What you've done so far is to misuse the tragic drowning of two children as an opportunity to spout nonsense. (Your erudite conclusion: 'People in developing countries are just generally really really reckless.'') Bad driving anywhere can be explained with a little research. To avoid people misinterpreting what you are saying, why don't you do some?
|
Wednesday November 6, 2024
FOLLOW PHUKETWAN
|
My heartfelt condolences go out to the families. But why were two children, at that age, allow to play near water unattended?
Posted by Graham on September 25, 2011 12:48