SAVING LIVES ON A WING AND A PRAYER
WITH a highly trained crew and multi million dollar equipment Surf Life Saving Queensland’s Westpac helicopter felt a Thai Buddhist blessing for luck would be an added bonus.
So they called in monk Luang Por Pumee to mark the $5.5 million helicopter with clay before splashing it with blessed water yesterday.
SLSQ hoped news of the ceremony might even save a few lives by reminding Thai people to swim between the red and yellow flags at the beach.
SLSQ figures reveal 30 foreign nationals have drowned on Queensland beaches in the past 10 years which lead the organisation to identify international tourists, travellers, and migrants as a high-risk group for coastal drownings.
Five monks from the Gold Coast Thai Temple visited SLSQ’s Carrara hangar.
Pumee – a 55-year-old who is known for making two month long barefoot journeys through jungles in Thailand for spiritual reasons – also blessed three helicopter crew members including chief training officer Andrew McNeilly.
He said he admired the monks for the visit.
“Watching the monks bless the helicopter was unique, it was quite humbling to have them take time out of their day, out of their meditation, to do that for us,” Mr McNeilly said.
“It’s an opportunity to get that message across, to swim between the flags and be safe on the beach.”