AN IRISHMAN has died in a kitesurfing incident in Thailand, local media have said.
The 43 year old man drowned in heavy surf off Hua Hin beach to the south east of the country today, Wednesday December 20.
The accident occurred shortly after midday at the beach near Soi Hua Hin 77 in the Hua Hin district, according to the Bangkok Post.
Rescuers pulled him from the sea and attempted to resuscitate him for at least ten minutes, to no avail.
Police said he had been a frequent visitor to Hua Hin, and married a Thai woman before settling in the area.
They also said he was a kiteboarding enthusiast and regularly surfed offshore from the beach with his own equipment.
Witnesses said they saw his control line become tangled with a buoy floating about 50 metres offshore, marking a swimming boundary.
He was then pulled into the sea, witnesses said and it is believed the tangled control line trapped him under strong waves.
Although rescuers reached him swiftly they took a long time to free him from his harness, and he drowned, police said.
