The victims ventured into the water, passing a row of red warning flags and multi-lingual signs - all illustrating no swimming and dangerous currents.
According to Daren Jenner, one of the rescuing lifeguards, large red and yellow flags had been set up, marking off the safe swimming area, which beach-goers had been using for hours without incident.
Jenner said that at around 4:30 PM, the four were spotted by lifeguards well outside of the safe swimming area, struggling to swim to shore against the current. One man was trying to hold a small baby, while attempting to fight against the fast moving water.
Jenner said the child’s mother was being swept the farthest out. Three lifeguards quickly dove into the ocean to rescue the victims, while three further rescuers remained on shore for back-up.
The lifeguard assisting the man and baby, also managed to whistle nearby swimmers out of the water.
Lifeguards and victims were dragged by the current for nearly five minutes, as they pulled the victims out of the rip current and back to shore, Jenner said.
They were fortunately all returned to the beach safely, without any serious injury.
According to Jenner, there hasn’t been a drowning death on Phuket’s Surin Beach in four years and two months. Despite multiple drownings at nearby beaches such as Layan, Patong, Karon, and Kata during the same time frame, Surin has remained free of fatalities.
Jenner said that the tragedy that could have occurred, had the potential to become one of Phuket’s worst drowning tragedies in recent times.
Lifeguards have said that monsoon storms have ravaged the coastline, destroying the lifeguard tower at Surin and washing away part of the road. Although temporary guard quarters have been brought in, the height of the old tower provided a much clearer view.
Jenner said that Surin’s full time lifeguard staff has been cut from eight guards last year, to just five this year.
“During the rescue, if another victim needed assistance at the south rocks, we just wouldn’t have been able to get there in time”, one of the rescuers said. “We are stretched fairly thin.”
“Everyone will make it home safely from Surin today, so no matter how difficult the rescue was, it was definitely a good day in the end,” the lifeguards said.