The pictures were taken a day after a young man from Bangkok drowned in heavy seas off Patong Beach.
Mr Thomas, who is a surfer himself, told The Phuket News, “The sea was exceptionally big and stormy. I saw four people being rescued in the space of about 15 minutes.”
Of the two pictured hugging on the beach after being rescued, he said, “These two were pretty lucky. You could see them being pulled out and separated.” She was helped to shore by a kitesurfer while he was rescued by the lifeguards.
Are the swimmers just plain stupid? Mr Thomas think it’s more a case of not understanding just how dangerous things can get.
“A lot of people are deceived. The water is warm and inviting. They think, ‘I’ll just go for a paddle.’ But then the waves drag them along the beach and then into a rip. It’s naivete more than anything.”
He has nothing but praise for the lifeguards who, he says, “do try to stop people going in the water – they’re quite assertive.”
But, he says, tourists, determined to make the most of their rain-soaked holiday, can be “quite confrontational. They ignore the lifeguards. What can the lifeguards do?”
What they do is risk their lives pulling out of the water the people they have just warned not to go in.
Red flags and warning signs don’t alert people who don’t bother to read the signs, so Mr Thomas believes the authorities should actually close the beaches in weather like this week’s, and back up the closure with the authority of the police.
Whether the authorities – always worried about Phuket’s reputation in the outside world – would even consider this step remains to be seen.