Another "swept out to sea" tragedy

Another "swept out to sea" tragedy, this time in Ireland, as this news from irishtimes.com  reports:

A man has died after being swept out to sea by a large wave while fishing in Co Waterford. 

The incident occurred on Bunmahon Beach near Dungarvan at approximately 1.45pm on Tuesday.Dublin Coastguard, which co-ordinated the rescue attempt, received a 999 call at 1.50pm from the man’s friend who was also fishing. 

A spokesman for the coastguard said the man was swept out to sea by a large wave before his friend entered the water and attempted to rescue him. 

He was unsuccessful and returned to shore to raise the alarm. 

The spokesman for the coastguard said that because the man had been reportedly in the water for five minutes, the Waterford-based coastguard helicopter was dispatched, along with the RNLI lifeboat and a community rescue boat.

The helicopter crew located the man but he was found to be face down in the water and non-responsive.

How tragic! Perhaps the following comments one should always kept in mind:

The spokesman for the coastguard urged people to remain vigilant of large waves and not to fish in areas that are not frequented by local people. 

“These waves are often described as freak waves,” he said. “One in every seven waves is a large wave - so they’re not freak waves - they’re large waves.”

I am not quite certain what the last comment means!

Rogue Waves sink Phi Phi cargo ship

Here's a headline from the Phuket Gazette yesterday: Rogue Waves sink Phi Phi cargo ship.

For us outsiders not familiar with geography of Thailand area, Wikipedia has these to say: The Phi Phi Islands are in Thailand, between the largest island of Phuket and the west Strait of Malacca coast of mainland.

Now please check their website for details of what had happened.

In essence, according to the Captain, Mr. Anan, they left in the morning in calm seas, then clearly an unexpected freaque wave, about 3 m high, struck them hard, the boat started to take on water, then another large wave hit it and sunk it.

To a large extent, this is probably a typical case of freaque waves happening with an auspicious ending: Both crew members are being rescued! Thanks be to God!



, where they were being taken care of by Phi Phi National Park officers,” said Lt Col Anurak.

Both men were taken to Phi Phi Hospite received a report from fishermen that they had located the pair and took them to Koh Pai, where they were being taken care of by Phi Phi National Park officers,” said Lt Col Anurak.

Both men were taken to Phi Phi Hospital for treatment, after having been clinging to debris for hours.

“The captain, Mr Anan, said that they departed Krabi at 10am in calm seas. However, a rogue wave, that was about three meters high, struck them hard,” said Mr Anurak.

Happened in Labenne in the Landes region of SW France

This latest news item in Mirror is a depressing happening: "British tourist dies after freak wave breaks spine and causes whiplash" as the headline states.

The man was bathing in a supervised swimming area in Labenne in the Landes region in Aquitaine in south-western France. 

 The 36-year-old suffered whiplash which broke his spine, according to authorities.The man was bathing in a supervised swimming area in Labenne in the Landes region in Aquitaine in south-western France.

How terrible!

The article also has this:

Facing the open Atlantic, the 60 miles of Landes beaches are famous for large waves.

The area contains the largest number of surf spots in Europe.

So care should be especially observed in famous tourist places! It is really upsetting to see  a life lost like this. On the other hand, some may regard this to be a romantic way to go. May God bless the victim, RIP.