Melbourne woman drowns at Phuket beach after ignoring warning signs

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Bluesky
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Melbourne woman drowns at Phuket beach after ignoring warning signs

Post by Bluesky »

Another tragic loss of life.

An Australian woman has drowned at a popular beach in Thailand while on holiday with her husband.

Barbara Fistrovic, 65, and her husband Ivan, 75, who are from Mills Park in Melbourne, decided to go for an afternoon swim at Kamala Beach on Sunday afternoon and reportedly ignored warning signs along the beach, Phuket News reports.

“We were told that the Australian couple went to swim where red flags were posted on the beach, and were caught by strong waves which dragged them away from the shore,” said Lt Col Somnuek Damkhaew of the Kamala Police.

It’s understood the pair were both swept away by powerful waves within minutes.

Lifeguards jumped in after the couple and pulled them to shore, where they began administering CPR.

Mr Fistrovic was able to be revived on the beach, but Mrs Fistrovic never regained consciousness.

She was pronounced dead at Patong Hospital.

http://www.9news.com.au/national/2017/0 ... uket-beach
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Re: Melbourne woman drowns at Phuket beach after ignoring warning signs

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Yes tragic. But what that link does not point out is the following:

https://thewest.com.au/news/world/aussi ... b88603560z
Red flags on the beach in Thailand indicate it is not safe to swim, unlike in Australia where swimmers are asked to stay between red and yellow flags.
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Re: Melbourne woman drowns at Phuket beach after ignoring warning signs

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Own stupidity, after that they will say: Too many Aussis are dying in Thailand.......
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Re: Melbourne woman drowns at Phuket beach after ignoring warning signs

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Nereus wrote: Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:21 am Yes tragic. But what that link does not point out is the following:

https://thewest.com.au/news/world/aussi ... b88603560z
Red flags on the beach in Thailand indicate it is not safe to swim, unlike in Australia where swimmers are asked to stay between red and yellow flags.
Well picked up Nereus, the swim between the red and yellow flags is something that has been around for as long as I can remember in Australia and has been part of a national awareness campaign spanning many years.
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Re: Melbourne woman drowns at Phuket beach after ignoring warning signs

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Well picked up, yes, but what do Australians do if they can't see a Yellow flag?

I raised the question about flags a few years ago when doing my beach walks. Hardly any to be seen, and of those that I did see, most looked as though they had forgot to take them down.
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Re: Melbourne woman drowns at Phuket beach after ignoring warning signs

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Well picked up, yes, but what do Australians do if they can't see a Yellow flag?
Go and see Dr. Parirat maybe? :rasta:

Actually in the photo on the link that Bluesky posted there appears to be some English writing on the Thai flags.
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Re: Melbourne woman drowns at Phuket beach after ignoring warning signs

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Big Boy wrote: Tue Sep 19, 2017 1:48 pm Well picked up, yes, but what do Australians do if they can't see a Yellow flag?

I raised the question about flags a few years ago when doing my beach walks. Hardly any to be seen, and of those that I did see, most looked as though they had forgot to take them down.
The red over yellow flags normally designate an area for swimming on a patrolled beach with the area generally being under the watchful eye of surf lifesavers. A straight yellow flag normally indicates caution required in Aust. If there are no flags present you swim at your own peril as the area is unlikely to be patrolled. The following link might be of interest.

http://www.lifesaving.com.au/faqs/beach-safety/

There has been a push for some time by the International Life Saving Federation for international standardisation of flags but not not aware how far it has progressed.

http://www.ilsf.org/drowning-prevention ... le-achieve
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Re: Melbourne woman drowns at Phuket beach after ignoring warning signs

Post by Big Boy »

That's what I thought, so the reference to Australians and the flags and colours was a bit of a red herring. Are we saying if they see a red flag only (or pink or orange) they wouldn't understand it?

Flags or safety in general here in Thailand are scarce to say the least. Even if flags were standardised here, I'm not sure that I'd trust them.

It's a shame it's happened, but blaming it on the flags (was it made in Burma?), really? It's a sad, unfortunate accident. Unfortunately, accidents happen.
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Re: Melbourne woman drowns at Phuket beach after ignoring warning signs

Post by HHTel »

Sad story but I'd always assume the colour red means danger. I'm sure the no swimming flags in the UK are red. Correct me if I'm wrong.
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Re: Melbourne woman drowns at Phuket beach after ignoring warning signs

Post by pharvey »

HHTel wrote: Tue Sep 19, 2017 3:42 pm Sad story but I'd always assume the colour red means danger. I'm sure the no swimming flags in the UK are red. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Very much agree - a very sad story, but (forget the UK) surely anywhere in the world (aside from Australian beaches obviously) RED means DANGER. It's certainly the way I would approach things.
Certainly not trying to take anything away from this tragedy and these folks seem to have followed simply what they knew - very sad.
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