At 3pm on Friday, Phuket Lifeguard Ekkarat Keawrak, 31, who was patrolling Nai Yang Beach, heard two women screaming, and ran to their assistance and discovered one woman, said to be between 45-50 years old, with blood pouring from her head.
The second woman, said to be first woman’s daughter and aged between 25-30 years old, had sustained minor injuries to her arms.
Close by was a branch about 70 centimetres long lying on the sand.
Rescue workers who attended the scene administered first aid to the woman with the head injury, but as they could not stem the flow of blood she was taken to Thalang Hospital for further treatment.
Mr Ekkarat said that the second victim told him that she and her mother were relaxing under a pine tree when they suddenly heard a branch snap, the branch fell on them causing their injuries.
“There are signs in the area warning people of falling branches. These pine trees are very old and branches are always falling from them,” Mr Ekkarat said.
“We also warn people about the danger of sitting under the trees, but we cannot stop them from sitting there. We will continue to warn people,” he added.
Meanwhile, a 91-year-old Italian man died after being struck by a falling brach at Jomtien Beach in Pattaya yesterday (Jan 22).
At around 6:30pm yesterday, Pattaya police and emergency services were called to the scene of a fatal freak accident involving an elderly foreign man down at beach road, Jomtien.
Arriving at the scene, police found the dead body of the man lying in the middle of the footpath.
The victim, Mr. Giacomo Smedile, 91 years old, was a retiree from Italy who had been enjoying his retirement in Thailand.
An eye witness to the accident said that he saw the victim walking along the footpath, when a tree branch unexpectedly snapped off and fell onto the head of Mr Smedile. (See story here.)