Ironically, the black pickup came to rest in the ‘no swimming’ zone marked by a red flag, indicating that it is dangerous to enter the water at that part of the beach.
The incident occurred at about 3pm today, explained Witanya Chuayuan, manager of the Phuket Lifeguard Service (PLS).
“Luckily, no-one was injured,” she added.
Lifeguards soon found the driver at the beach, Ms Witanya told The Phuket News.
“He lives in Phuket and came to chill on the beach with his family for the holiday,” she explained.
“He said he parked the pickup truck beside the beach, but forgot to put on the handbrake,” she added.
The pickup truck has been recovered from the water. Lifeguards and officers from Rawai Municipality together pulled the pickup back onto the beach, a process that took about 30 minutes, Ms Witanaya explained.
“If you are visiting the beach, put the handbrake on every time, and please make sure your vehicle is parked in the right place,” she said.
“On one side of the entrance to the beach the land and the beach is nearly at the same level, which makes it easy for vehicles that don’t have the handbrake on to roll onto the sand,” Ms Witanya warned.