Drowning

From: Amanda Bates (amanda@morgan.com)
Story type: Angel
Location: Phuket Island, Thailand
Source: Form Submission

My family went to Phuket for a holiday in the sun where my mother(35), who was recovering from breast cancer could rest. We stayed at a resort on the beach which consisted of small bungalows and a central dining room and recreation area attached to the main reception.

I was only 11 years old and my sister Vanessa was 12. My father, Vanessa and I went swimming in the ocean while Toni(9) was looking after Kerry (who was only a year old) on the shore. They were building sand castles and digging holes while we swam. It was a beautiful day and we had the entire beach to ourselves.

Mum was 100 meters back asleep in the bungalow and could not see or hear the beach from behind the dunes.

Dad and Vanessa and I swam and floated about happily until suddenly I couldn't touch the bottom. I didn't realize I was in trouble until I heard my Dad start to shout "Help! Toni, bring a rope!"

I tried to swim back in but we were caught in a rip, which is a strong undercurrent that was taking us out to sea. The water was quite rough and I was swallowing a lot of water. I couldn't see Vanessa and my Dad was swimming between the two of us trying to get us back to shore but the current was too strong. He kept shouting to Toni to get some help but she just sat on the beach and waved at us. I realized that she couldn't hear us. We were too far out and she just thought we were waving at her.

I didn't know what to do. I was exhausted and had swallowed a lot of water so I knew I was drowning. I could hear the panic in my usually calm father's voice and I knew that my sister on the beach wasn't going to get help. I thought, "this is it! I'm going to die now" and so I just resigned myself to it.

Suddenly there was an arm under my chin and someone was pulling me in to shore. I looked across the beach when they were carrying me up the beach and saw that they had also rescued my sister. Someone gave me mouth to mouth resuscitation and pumped all the seawater out of my stomach. Dad seemed to be OK. Toni was crying and saying she didn't know and she couldn't hear us calling for help. So who had alerted the people from the hotel that we were drowning on the beach?

My Mother! She had been in a deep sleep in the bungalow when she was awakened by my father's voice in her ear. She had been startled because she had thought he was in the room with her and she wondered who was looking after the children on the beach. Mum had run to the Hotel Lobby and got help and a rope and they had all run down to the beach where they were just in time to save us.

My mother told us later that an Angel had brought my father's voice to her as clear as day when Toni who was sitting on the beach watching us, couldn't hear that we were drowning.