Speaking after a conference focusing on developing Phuket as a Smart City, held at the Novotel Phokeetra hotel this morning, Vice Governor Supoj explained that he had been informed that the body of Chinese tourist Yin Lei, 35, from Henan, China, had been found.
Mr Yin’s body was found near Freedom Beach this morning (Sept 3), two days after he was swept from a rock by a large wave at Freedom Beach, south of Patong, on Sunday evening.
A search was launched on Sunday night, but was forced to be called off due to foul weather. (See stories here and here.)
“I was informed that a jet-ski rider found his body floating off Freedom Beach. From examination, officers confirmed that the body matched the description of the missing Chinese tourist who was dragged to the sea in the evening of Sept 1,” V/Gov Supoj told The Phuket News.
“The Phuket Government has been trying to find ways to prevent drowning from happening at our beaches, because there is no way to enforce red flags at the beaches under Thai law,” he explained.
“We will present this issue about red flags to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, to have a law written about the issue.
V/Gov Supoj pointed out that the number of tourists drowning at Freedom Beach may prompt officials to ban swimming at the beach entirely during the dangerous southwest monsoon.
“It’s quite strange that a lot of tourists died around that beach, so we may announce that swimming anywhere in the area near that beach will be prohibited for safety of tourists,” he said.
“To tourists, please follow lifeguards’ suggestions. Do not swim in areas marked with red flags, or maybe not during the monsoon season at all, no matter how good you are at swimming – because most tourists who have died were confident in their skills at swimming,” V/Gov Supoj added.
Additional reporting by Eakkapop Thongtub