PUBLISHED : 30 Jul 2024 at 10:50
PHUKET: The body of a Chinese tourist missing since going swimming at Karon beach on Thursday night was found on rocks near Freedom beach in Muang district on Monday.
A fisherman discovered the body and informed police about 9.30am, said Pol Col Khundet Na Nong Khai, chief of Karon police.
Emergency responders sent to scene said Qin Yuan’s body was lying face-down on the rocks. It was taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital for post-mortem examination.
The Chinese consular office in Phuket had been notified, police said.
Qin, 27, was last seen about 7.30pm on Thursday.
Karon mayor Jadet Wicharasor said a Chinese couple had rented a surfboard on Thursday evening and returned it about 6.30pm.
The couple again went swimming at Karon beach about 7.30pm. By then it was dark and all the lifeguards had left the beach.
Rescuers began a search after being alerted by Karon municipal officials that the worried woman was looking for her missing husband.
Municipal and local authorities, police and the 3rd Naval Fleet all sent teams to assist in the search for the missing swimmer.
The municipality had earlier put up no-swimming signs in four languages – Chinese, English, Russian and Thai – and placed red flags along high-risk stretches of the beach. Many people ignored the warnings.
Nine people, five of them foreigners, have drowned this year in Phuket, even though 115 lifeguards have been deployed at beaches across the tourist island, according to the provincial office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.