Ko Phi Phi Tragedy
I had a flashback today about Ko Phi Phi. It came into my head while listening to a new song called “Swim” by Jack’s Mannequin. The lyric, “I found a tidal wave begging to tear down the dawn,” triggered my memory of Ko Phi Phi. This island was devastated by a tsunami on December 26, 2004, about 8 months before I showed up. So I had this random thought about Ko Phi Phi and Googled it to look at pictures or whatever and ended up on Wikipedia where I read this:
As of 2009, Phi-phi Islands are under investigation after two tourists, one American girl, Jill St. Onge and one Norwegian Tourist, Julie Michelle Berghiem mysteriously died while staying at the Laleena Guesthouse. Their cause of death is unknown, however alcohol, drugs, and food poisoning have been all ruled out of the case. Tourists are strongly urged against traveling to Phi-phi Islands without knowledge of the potential dangers.
Whoa, what? Apparently, they developed a cough, along with their roommates (Jill’s roommate being her fiance, Ryan Kells) and were dead within 12 hours. This site is tracking progress, or lack or progress, on the investigation. If you want to experience something haunting, read her last blog and the comments following it.
When I was there, I was taught how to scuba dive from an instructor named Cole Mansfield of Barakuda Dive Center. (There’s some pictures of Barakuda along with the owner soon after the tsunami about 2/3 of the way down the page here; I was told he’s the most amazing diver cuz he’s like a seal.. ha). I found another haunting link, which looks like a list of survivors that was posted right after the tsunami. Notice Cole is listed.
Strange and tragic.
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I guess the only picture I have of Cole is his bare back.
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The owner of Barakuda (“the seal”) taking a nap.
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The water level reached in this cafe.
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The strip that was devastated.
I was in the middle of reading about request scope in Dependecy Injection, a software developer nerdbook, when this flashback entered my brain and now I’ve spent most of my morning reading and thinking about these Ko Phi Phi tragedies. It’s hard to go back and concentrate on work after bumping the emotion button.
August 28th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
This is Jill’s brother. Thanks for writing about this. We are working hard on trying to get the story out.
Kind Regards,
Rob
September 1st, 2009 at 8:36 am
Wow. I hardly know what to say. My heart really goes out to you and your family. My wife has also dealt with tragedy in both her family and with a best friend so we understand a little what you’re going through. Hang in there.
Keith
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Were you there when Cole was telling about the day the tsunami hit? It was his day off – he was halfway home near the hill his apt was. He ran up the hill to get away from the water – and watched it all, heard everyone yelling, it was horrible. Back then Barrakuda had a classroom upstairs and so that is why many of the people were saved, they weren’t on the ground floor.
October 26th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Wow, that is so crazy and intense and awful. I can’t imagine. I remember going on a little tour while Cole was telling us about the tsunami but I didn’t remember these specifics. It seems like I remember him saying there were a few in the training pool they had, that didn’t make it? Do you remember that? I wonder how much or how little it’s changed since we were there.