Overboard
27 January 2013 | Ao Chalong
At approx. 5.30am we heard someone calling out, sounded like they may have been drunk and they were trying to return to their boat. On getting out of bed and going outside we heard a woman calling out and then a dinghy pulled up and asked for assistance in looking for someone who had fallen overboard. Mike quickly dropped the dinghy in the water, grabbed a torch and off he went searching. There were another 3 or 4 dinghies searching as well. I grabbed a torch and walked up to the bow searching the nearby waters. Then I spotted something in the water.
I looked again and then I started yelling out, what I had seen was a body floating towards Keris. Two dinghies arrived, pulled the body (male) out of the water and speed off to the jetty, giving CPR on the way. Emergency services had already been called. Unfortunately it was too late, he had been in the water for too long. We were told later, this yachtie (a Kiwi) had attempted to push another larger boat away from his, slipped and fall, hitting his head on the way.
A small reminder to us all, we just never know when our time is up, here one minute, gone the next........