Death of Australian man parasailing in Phuket - two Thai men charged with negligence

[1happykamper]

Are those smirks on the faces of the arrested operators? The little sh*ts

[johnarth]

1 hour ago, craigt3365 said:

How about arresting the Thai officials who allowed these guys to operate?  Seems like a failure due to the Thai authorities negligence???

very true, still I have been told by many Thais that most boats and skies are owned by cops

[simon43]

Daily News reported that the equipment was faulty and that the necessary certification to operate such a business was not in order.

 

No sh*t sherlock!!!  I never would have guessed..... 

[Cirencester]

totally lost why was the thai guy in yellow shirt going up with him......??   if they were not licensed and insured hope there is hefty jail time coming

[Foxy52]

I see Kata beach is a bit different to when I was last there in 1978 and not in a good way

 

[lucjoker]

not everything was  bad luck.....there was also good luck ,

(you know : no ying without a yang)

the good luck was that the poor man did not fall upon a swimmer 

in the shallow water , the boat did not drive over a swimmer nor a jet-ski,.......

and .....if the giggling lady witch he  talked to, becomes a millionaire now .......

 

[the guest]

In fairness, most of us clearly are aware of the potential dangers of going on such rides in Thailand, knowing the clearly inadequate health and safety executive that has plagued the country for decades. There has been enough tragedy in Thailand for us to make a conscious choice on whether we should even contemplate taking such a ride, and we must therefore accept the consequences. 

[Knocker33]

Would have probably been put down to suicide without the video.

[Knocker33]

1 minute ago, the guest said:

In fairness, most of us clearly are aware of the potential dangers of going on such rides in Thailand, knowing the clearly inadequate health and safety executive that has plagued the country for decades. There has been enough tragedy in Thailand for us to make a conscious choice on whether we should even contemplate taking such a ride, and we must therefore accept the consequences. 

If this is your first time in Thailand and you don't read the blogs. Why would you know

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, Spellforce said:

There is a 2nd mistake: why the thai man behind the australian was not attached ?

We can see on the video that he's trying to save the passenger ... with one hand ?

I've been up on one of these para sails, albeit a few years ago when I was a bit more adventurous.
The second guy is not strapped in, he is free to run behind you as you lift off, then maneuvers above you within the parachute lines where he takes control of direction as the video shows.
The harness that holds the man is attached usually at two points across the chest and stomach and is not released by a single hook.

It either broke or was not attached properly in the first place.
The reason he had only one hand free to try to help the guy was the other hand was holding himself in place.

[jobwolf]

Is anybody ever checking licenses? Safety procedures don't exist in Thailand I know but how can

these people get away with operating this business for so long.

[TheFishman1]

You can't tell Thais anything about safety they know everything TIT

[lucjoker]

the moment of take off ,a Thai men shouted that something was wrong , he makes a gesture with his arms ,

but it was too late they were airborne ,seconds later the victim slides out of his harness..........

If you watch the other video , you can see the complete "strap-in" (seems ok) and the take off.

The Thai flies with the passenger ,and is unstrapped , just flaps his legs around the lines and does the steering.

He has to steer the parachute close to the shore when the wind direction is not ideal.(if not the parachute will land in deep water away from the shore)

 

[Grumpy Duck]

May the Aussie rest in peace. Hopefully he completed his bucket list. 

 

I was surprised it was not considered suicide. 

[VBF]

9 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Finally some truth to my theory of negligence on faulty equipment and not what I previously read, i.e. that the deceased pulled the hook which releases you.

 

So now what, a 500 baht fine each and 2 day suspension from going up again, more than likely IMO.

 

RIP to the digger, got to feel for his family, a holiday gone tragically wrong because of the relaxed regulations and laws, again IMO, in the Land of Smiles.

 

I also suspect that if he had any life insurance, they will be looking for an exit clause due to going up in the chute, hope that's not the case as that would just compound things for his widow and family.

I doubt Life Insurance would cover this - however my travel insurance covers both parasailing and parascending over water. Whether this gentleman had such insurance is obviously unknown by us.

[wvavin]

Are we able to know what would be the verdict of this case? Well, this never happened!

[masuk]

3 hours ago, sensei said:

I've done that before and scares me to watch that video.

It is unconventional but a "navigator" flies with the client. He stirs the chute by tugging on the ropes because there is no way the client can stir himself back to shore against the wind and with the boat out at sea.

The "navigator" just holds on and sometimes would wrap his legs around the flyers' chest area just to get leverage. 

What i see here is that there is no way the man could have unhooked or unfastened the harness himself. His sheer weight would not allow that. It could have been a rip in the worn out harness.

This is a disaster and traumatic to his companions.

RIP old man.

possibly you mean he STEERS the 'chute.

[losworld]

<deleted> looks like the thai went up with no harness and wrapped his legs around the harness holding the tourist?  what kind of crazy shit is this?

[digger70]

Health and Safety in Thailand,,Doesn't Exist,, Only Greed for for Power and Money,, 

[Wilsonandson]

After doing a little research of the internet these two quotes seem plausable and probably what happened.

Operators told police the 70-year-old man confused the ropes on his parasail and pulled on a hook which unstrapped his harness, causing him to fall to the sea below. He was taken to Patong hospital, where he later died.

It looks like he was holding onto the 2 hooks and then a second before takeoff the black line goes under his arm and you see him holding on by his armpits. This is why the guy on the ground goes nuts also I would bet the old man was screaming in pain. The operator then goes up top to free his arms but after freeing them he does not realize the old man unhooked himself...

[xylophone]

3 hours ago, jaiyen said:

 Remember the Aussie guy who was recently charged with manslaughter (I think ) when he crashed a jet ski and his G/F got killed ?

You make an excellent point "jaiyen" and I wonder how this will pan out........will truly show whether there is a bias in Thai law!

[mikiea]

RIP dode

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

8 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

What you have to worry about is the sentence they will get, or lack if it.

500 baht fine and they'll be back illegally parasailing before you can shake a stick.

 

No value for life here, and no enforcement of proper safety rules and regulations.

 

But while we're at it, why only charged with negligence?  Why not charged with manslaughter or 2nd degree murder / murder with flagrant disregard for life?

[csabo]

5 hours ago, Spellforce said:

There is a 2nd mistake: why the thai man behind the australian was not attached ?

We can see on the video that he's trying to save the passenger ... with one hand ?

You guys don't see to be aware how they do it here. The customer is buckled in. The Thai guide just jumps up into the cords and hangs on with his hands and legs. Seen it a thousand times and keep waiting for the guide to fall. Would have jumped to that conclusion if I was  on the beach that day .

[frank0424]

Why do any activity that  can result in death?

[stevenl]

8 minutes ago, frank0424 said:

Why do any activity that  can result in death?

Like living you mean?

[Wilsonandson]

Why do any activity that  can result in death?

Extreme sporting activity. Yes, why?

[ChrisY1]

5 hours ago, bra said:

This is getting extensive coverage on all Australian TV news channels today. Very bad publicity for Phuket and Thai tourism

And so it should be...also a BBC....

[joecoolfrog]

4 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

How can these people operating their business on public beaches without even the correct paperwork insurance documents etc? Looking at their mugshots somehow they resemble  me of the  tuk tuk driver in Patong.

Are you seriously asking how ?

[frank0424]

7 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Like living you mean?

No. Like living dangerously.