Tourists flee Koh Samui beach pistol duel
HUNDREDS of tourists ran for their lives after 2 jet ski operators engaged in a pistol duel on Koh Samui island’s Chaweng beach late yesterday afternoon (Feb. 27) leaving one dead and the other seriously injured, the Thai-language Daily News reported.
Pol. Lt. Tula Sawangrat, deputy inspector at Bophut station on Koh Samui, rushed to Chaweng beach together with Surat Thani province police chief Pol. Lt. Gen. Apichart Boonsriroj and medical staff from Bangkok Samui and Thai International hospitals and cordoned off the dueling site on the beach.
The medical team from Thai International hospital quickly pumped the heart of Mr Tinphop Petcharat, 26, and rushed him to the hospital but he later died there.
However, his opponent, Suthariya Chaipetch, 45, is recovering at Bangkok Samui hospital and is being guarded by police to prevent a revenge attack.
At the scene of the shootout police found a Beretta 9mm automatic pistol and a size 357 revolver, which they kept as evidence.
Investigation showed that the pistol duelers both owned a jet ski business on this beach and frequently quarreled over customers and finally late yesterday afternoon challenged each other to a duel.
The sound the of the gunfire frightened hundreds of tourists on the beach who ran off in different directions.
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Top and in-text: The site of the pistol duel on Koh Samui’s Chawang beach. Photos: Daily News
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