American Sam Hollrah, a resident in Laos, was on a snorkeling trip arranged by the Anurak Seacanoe tour company with about other 20 tourists when the weather turned bad and the sea became rough. All those on the trip were advised by their tour guide not to snorkel too far from the boat.
“I saw a man drifting in the sea, so I called our tour guide and we pulled him to the boat* and got him on board,” Mr Hollrah told The Phuket News.
“We found that the man had no pulse when we pulled him aboard the boat. So, with the help of other tourists, I immediately performed CPR. This went on for about seven or eight minutes,” he said.
“Finally, we got a weak pulse and he coughed a bit and then lost consciousness again. We continued CPR for another 8-10 minutes before he finally started coughing a lot. Then I tilted him on his side and patted his back to release the seawater from his lungs.
"We got the boat back to Phi Phi and the man was taken to Phi Phi Hospital. However, he was later transferred to Phuketʼs Vachira Hospital,” Mr Hollrah explained.
Sonsunee Misong, the tour guide who was out on the trip told The Phuket News that the Korean man, named as Jea Hou Lee, was kept under observation at Vachira Hospital for two days.
“I went to see him both days,” she said.
A doctor from Vachira Hospital told Ms Sonsunee that Mr Jea had taken in a lot of water and needed to rest.
“When Mr Jea woke up he immediately said that he was very sorry to have caused so much trouble to the group. He promised to come back next year and that he would follow the advice given by the tour guides,” Ms Sonsunee added.
During sea tours, guides always tell their customers to wear a life jacket. However, some ignore the warning, even those are poor swimmers.
“We cannot force tourists to wear them, except those who are unable to swim,” said Ms Sonsunee.
Ms Sonsunee also told The Phuket News that Anurak Seacanoe tour had covered all Mr Jeaʼs hospital expenses, which amounted to over B10,000.
*Correction: The boat remained anchored. It was not moved to collect Mr Jea from the sea, as originally reported.