Man suffers near-death experience due to strong rip current at Sentosa

Singapore—A Singaporean man almost drowned at Sentosa on May 28 when he got sucked into a strong rip current. Fortunately, he forced himself to stay calm and swam along the buoys, till finally he swam for his life and made it to the shore.

“Eventually thank God I made it…,” wrote Yee Hoo Thim, who took to Facebook to write about his near-death experience, with friends chiming in with gratefulness that he was able to swim to safety.

Mr Yee wrote that he had been swimming from Pulau Palawan, an islet located off the southwestern coast of Sentosa.

Due to the current, he was brought near the blue buoys in the area.

The force of the current took him by surprise.

“Suddenly my arm hit the blue buoy, I felt like a magnet being sucked to the other side(outer sea) n I tried swimming away but couldn’t for a few attempts.”

At that point, Mr Yee began to panic because of the force of the riptide.

“I was holding the stainless chain as the current kept pushing out beyond the blue buoys. If I let go, I will be further out in the sea n I saw 1-2 meter waves on the outside.”

The thought of being sucked down by the current and being unable to breathe frightened him.
He wrote that he rested a while, although he could feel his heartbeat racing.

“I tried to go along the blue buoys hoping the other buoys (had) less current. I could not hold on to the blue buoys, so quickly I hold on to the next chain that links the buoys. Then I reached a yellow metal pyramid thing my hand could hold on to it, current extra strong.”

Mr Yee, who seems like an experienced athlete, asked himself what to do, while he continued to attempt to bring his heartbeat down.

While he swam along the buoys, he still felt the undercurrent.

At that point, he apparently decided to make an endeavour to reach the shore.

“Did a few attempts, then the last one I sprinted, kicked n swam like Michael phelps towards the shore, 3meters, 6m, 10m, I kept swimming as hard n fast as I could, then finally the current is less. I was breathless, but I kept swimming towards shore.

Eventually thank God I made it…”

Mr Yee also posted a photo from an app of his route, which included his heart rate and the line of blue buoys where he swam.

The line of buoys was noticeably not straight, and he explained why.

“If any of you swim in Sentosa n see kinks or an S shape on the blue buoys, this is the undercurrent different directions. Normally they should curve in linear form,” he wrote.

Many commenters expressed how thankful they were that he survived his near-death experience.

Some commenters wrote that he should use safety floats when he swims.

Mr Yee answered that he did have a safety buoy but that the current was simply too strong.

 /TISG

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