43 ear-Old Irishman Drowns in Kite-Boarding Accident in Hua Hin, Thailand

Gerard was a kiteboarding enthusiast became entangled with a buoy off a Hua Hin beach.

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HUA HIN – A 43-year-old Irishman has drowned in heavy surf off Hua Hin beach after his Kite-board control line became entangled with a buoy on Wednesday.

Rescuers who pulled him unconscious from the sea tried to resuscitate him for at least 10 minutes, to no avail.

He was identified as 43-year-old Jonathan Gerard.

Police told the Bangkok Post reporter that he had been a frequent visitor to Hua Hin, and then married a Thai woman and settled down there.

Gerard was a kite-boarding enthusiast. He had his own equipment, rented a space to store it at a kite-boarding shop on Soi Hua Hin 77, and regularly surfed offshore from the beach.

Witnesses said they saw Gerard’s control line become tangled with a buoy floating about 50 meters offshore, marking a swimming boundary.

He was pulled suddenly into the sea. It was assumed the entangled line trapped him under the strong waves.

Although rescuers reached him swiftly they took a long time to free him from his harness, and he drowned, police said.

By Chaiwat Satyaem