The man, named by staff at Patong Hospital as Viktor Sizouenko, 32, was rescued by lifeguards at about 10:30am.
“The injured man was taken to hospital for treatment. Luckily, he suffered only a minor injury to his shoulder. He is okay now,” Phuket Lifeguard Chief Prathaiyut Chuayuan told The Phuket News today.
Mr Sizouenko entered the water outside the zone marked safe for swimming by lifeguards, Mr Prathaiyut explained.
One of the lifeguards who rescued Mr Sizouenko told The Phuket News, “We warned him not to go in the water because it was too dangerous, but he did not listen to us.”
Mr Sizouenko was then carried away from the beach and dragged to the southern end of Karon, where he was pummelled onto rocks.
“Incidents like this can happen to anyone if you are not a strong swimmer, especially during this time of year,” Mr Prathaiyut warned.
“Please learn how to swim and pay good attention to lifeguards’ warnings – and please swim only where the flags say it is safe to do so, and never swim where red flags are posted,” he said.