The Prime Minister and his delegation will depart Bangkok at 1:15pm and land at Phuket International Airport, said Chai Watcharong, Spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office.
At 4pm, PM Srettha will join the rehearsal of the ‘management plan to help victims of a marine disaster’, he said.
The safety exercise to be held in Patong on Friday, widely promoted by government officials, will include a demonstration of lifeguards rescuing a tourist in trouble in the water, namely caught in a rip current, and law enforcement officers responding to a drunken tourist on Bangla Rd. (See story here.)
The key event will be an air-sea rescue simulating a tourist boat stricken by large waves and strong winds in a demonstration to be held off Patong Beach. (See story here.)
PM Srettha will join a meeting at the Kudo Hotel & Beach Club at 4pm to follow up on the tourism safety exercise and the current safety measures in place to protect tourists from dangerous situations, including tourists ignoring red ‘no swimming’ flags posted at the beaches.
PM Srettha’s participation at the meeting will be broadcast live, including through the official Facebook page of the Phuket branch of the Public Relations Department (PRD Phuket).
The Prime Minister and his delegation will return to Bangkok, where they are expected to arrive at 7:15pm, Mr Chai said.
Phuket Governor Sophon Suwannarat today (Nov 29) led officials in ensuring preparations were underway for the large-scale exercise to be held at Patong.
An area of the beach was cleared of sunbeds so that rescue personnel could safely conduct their simulations.
Governor Sophonled a meeting of the working group assigned to organise the ‘virtual exercise’ of the ‘Phuket Marine Disaster Response Plan’.
Phuket officials were ordered to inform people in their areas that the emergency response exercise will be taking place at Patong Beach on Friday in order to avoid causing any panic.
“Although the weather today is cloudy and grey, there are still tourists out there doing activities on the beach, including sunbathing, playing water sports and so on,” Governor Sophon noted.