PHUKET: A Russian tourist drowned at Karon beach in Muang district on Sunday, police said.
Pol Lt Col Ekachai Siri, of Phuket tourist police, said the dead man was Vladimir Kharitonov, 60. His death was reported about 10.30am.
He and his wife Marina, 60, arrived in Phuket on Nov 9. They checked in at the Best Western Karon Beach Hotel and were to check out on Nov 22.
Mrs Kharitonov told police that about 9am on Sunday she and her husband went swimming in the sea at Karon beach. Soon afterwards, she left to collect some belongings. When she returned to the beach she saw a lifeguard giving her husband cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He said Kharitonov had passed out and was without vital signs.
Kharitonov was taken by ambulance to Chalong Hospital, where a doctor said he died before being brought from the beach. An autopsy a Vachira Phuket Hospital confirmed he died from drowning.
Mrs Kharitonov said she did not question the circumstances of her husband's death. She would take his body back to Russia for the funeral.
Police said there was a no-swimming flag on the beach. The lifeguard who performed CPR said there was no rip current near the beach. He saw the Russian man lying face down in the water, and believed he had passed out because of some illness.
The death had been reported to the Russian consulate in Phuket, Pol Lt Col Ekachai said.
