Education and language education and in Thailand

This column is for self
study or classroom use and gives guided help with reading the wide variety of writing styles and topics that appear as feature articles in the Bangkok Post. The lessons include background information, skill
building practice and vocabulary explanations.

August 21, 2007

Swept out to sea

INTRODUCTION

I know the feeling. Once in the Phuket area I remember how easy swimming seemed to be. Then I suddenly realised why. I was swimming with the tide and the tide was going out to sea. As soon as I started swimming the other way, it became a huge struggle to get back to the shore. In the story below, it sounds like the young boy didn't figure out what was happening until too late. Fortunately he was swimming in the Dead Sea. Find out how that likely kept him alive.

tide
a regular rise and fall in the level of the sea caused by the pull of the moon and sun struggle
a difficult fight or attempt to do something

OUR STORY FROM THE BANGKOK POST

Israeli Zaka religious rescue workers evacuate eight-year-old boy Shneur Zalman Friedman, from an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of Jerusalem, into an ambulance on Friday. — AP

Lost boy spends night floating

Jerusalem - An eight-year-old Israeli boy spent six hours floating in the Dead Sea alone at night after his father left him there by accident during a family trip, police said.

They said they would not press charges against the errant parent.

The Dead Sea, the lowest point on Earth and one of Israel's most popular tourist attractions, has an abnormally high salt concentration that allows swimmers to float on the surface.

Rescue workers said the boy, Shneur Zalman Friedman, from Jerusalem, was in the sea with his father and two brothers on Thursday evening when currents swept him away from shore, without anyone else noticing.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the family was part of a large group visiting a beach reserved for ultraOrthodox Jewish men, who do not bathe in the presence of women, away from main public areas. His father left the water with other group members and only noticed the boy was missing at sunset, Mr Rosenfeld said on Sunday.

A major search by police helicopters and volunteers in motorboats finally found Shneur about 3km from shore after six hours in the strong-smelling, corrosive water, Yehuda Meshi-Zahav of the Zaka rescue organisation said.

The boy was dehydrated and frightened but otherwise healthy, he said. Shneur told his rescuers he remained calm throughout the ordeal, saying prayers and thinking about his school friends as he floated in the darkness.

''We thought we were looking for a body,'' Omer Cohen of the Megilot volunteer rescue unit said.

''We were surprised to find the boy alive and well.''

rescue
involved with saving people from dangerous or harmful situations
evacuate
to move people from a place of danger to a safer place
ultra-Orthodox
extremely strict in following the teachings and beliefs of a particular religion
ambulance
a vehicle with special equipment, used for taking sick or injured people to a hospital
press charges
to formally accuse someone of wrongdoing
errant
doing something that is wrong
concentration
the amount of a substance in a liquid or another substance
presence
the fact of being in a particular place
corrosive
tending to destroy something slowly by chemical action
dehydrated
having lost too much water from the body
ordeal
a difficult or unpleasant experience
volunteer
of someone who does a job without being paid for it

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