Tourists drown on Kuta Beach Bali

Three older tourists have drowned on Kuta Beach. This is another example of the power of local currents and the need to be careful. Here’s more from the Jakarta Post.

Three Swedish nationals drown in Bali

DENPASAR (Antara): Three Swedish nationals died in a local hospital Friday after being rescued by surf lifesavers from Kuta Beach, Bali.

The dead were identified as Kent Jansen, 61, Anders Davist Lan, 70, and Eva, 58. The identity of a companion who was swimming with the three is yet to be revealed.

An official at the Tourist Security Board, I Ketut Sudiana, said Saturday the four tourists were rescued by his team from Kuta Beach and rushed to a local hospital, where doctors were unable to revive three of them.

A couple of nights ago on the plane from Singapore, I advised a party from Ukraine to be careful while swimming, to ask a local if it was okay to swim and that if they see people surfing in that area, it may not be a good idea to swim.

The entire south coast of Indonesia is subject to strong ocean swell and rip currents. While is can be okay to swim at Kuta, certain places such as Canggu advise people not to swim at all. Same thing in Central Java. Anyway here is a bit more on rip currents and how to survive them.

In Bali if you see a red flag planted in the sand, do not swim there. The area between red/yellow flags is supposed to be watched over by lifeguards.