However, the parasail operator denies any accident occurred in the air and says perhaps she was just afraid of heights.
Ms Saleem, born and raised in America but now living in Pakistan, arrived in Phuket on December 28 to visit a friend who lives in Kata. On New Year’s Eve, Ms Saleem, 23, decided to go parasailing, along with her friend’s brother.
After being strapped into the harness, she ran, and was lifted high up into the air.
“I knew something was wrong,” she told The Phuket News.
“Within seconds, I felt my life jacket and harness pull up above my chest and wrap around my neck. ‘Is this normal?’, I thought to myself.
“I tried to keep calm, thinking maybe the ropes would relax the higher we got, but I was wrong. As each second passed by, I felt the ropes of the harness strangling my neck, and the metal clips sat tightly on my windpipe.
“That’s when I started to scream for help, but it was no use.”
Unable to attract attention, she tried to pull her body up to separate the rope from her neck, so she could breathe.
“I felt my arms starting to go limp, my eyes widening from the lack of air and I was sure that this was it.”
Then she blacked out.
“Once I woke up after blacking out in the air, I was sure I wasn’t going to make it because I felt my eyes widening, and my breaths getting shorter.
“With every ounce of strength I had left, I screamed my last scream. Finally, I saw someone [in the boat] look up. He quickly pulled the parachute down into the middle of the ocean, and once my body touched the water, I passed out again.
“When my eyes re-opened, I was being pulled back to shore [by a rope]. I started to cry. I’m not really sure if it was relief, fear, panic – or all of the above.”
Back on shore, Ms Saleem’s friends had not realised what was happening until they saw the last photo they snapped – her reaching the shore crying and holding her neck. She had been in the air around seven minutes. Ms Saleem was shaking, and felt like she was going to faint again.
“Since they [the operators] were speaking in Thai, they spoke to my friend trying to ask what happened. She explained to them that I was choking on the ropes and metal clips.
“They just asked me once ‘okay?’ and walked away. Only one man said sorry, and the other said there are no metal clips. Later when I went home I looked at the pictures of the harness and there were clearly more metal objects on it.”
Since the accident she has suffered flashbacks of the incident and is still in pain.
“I had internal and external bruises all around my neck from the metal clips and the rope. My legs were bleeding [from hitting something in the water], and there was some internal swelling and bruising in my abdomen.
“Up until two nights ago, I would wake up every night shaking. But I’m better now, I realise it’s better to be grateful that I walked away with my life, rather than be scared about what could have happened.”
Ms Saleem believes the lifejacket or harness was not tight enough, so when she was lifted into the air, it slid up around her neck.
“There should be more safety regulations put in place, some sort of signal or gesture that indicates a person [up in the air] is in danger or needs help. The only instruction I was given was to run when he counted to three – that’s it.”
She said she did not pursue a complaint or contact police while in Phuket because she did not want to cause trouble.
“When you think that you could have almost died if they heard you a second too late, at that time [making a complaint] is the last thing going through your mind.
“The only outcome I actually want from this is for others to be more aware.
“These companies need to realise that there are no short cuts for safety precautions and it only takes a second for something to go wrong.”
Parasail Head of Operations Kraidetch Boonnak said he could remember Ms Saleem and her two friends, but denied there was any sort of accident.
“They came here many days ago. I do not know what happened when she was up in the air because she didn’t say anything. Her friends told us that she was okay.
“I’ve worked in the parasailing business for 40 years. No one has ever died using my service.
“I don’t know what was going on with her that day, she might have been afraid of heights.”
When Mr Kraidetch was asked if customers were given a safety briefing prior to launch, about what to do in an emergency, he said, “We educate our customers first before they go up in the air. The customers don’t have to do anything.”
He said the lifejacket and harness could not have been fitted incorrectly because the parasail staff fit the customer with it – they do not do it themselves.
He said that in all his years in the industry he had never heard of anyone wanting to get down while they were up in the air.
–Additional reporting by Prapaporn Jitmaneeyaphan