Revellers injured in Thailand tourist boat collision

[The_Munchmaster]

From the BBC

 

Some 40 people have been injured after two boats carrying tourists collided in the Gulf of Thailand.

 

They overturned a few kilometres out to sea while ferrying people to and from a party on Koh Phangan island beach, throwing many revellers into the water.

 

At least two other people were said to be missing.

 

The monthly beach event held on full-moon nights is well-known among party-goers, and attracts thousands of tourists and locals.

 

The boats collided late on Saturday, throwing passengers into rough waters just off the island, The Nation newspaper website said.

 

Every month, it is estimated up to 25,000 revellers descend on Koh Phangan for the all-night beach rave.

 

[limbo]

Update:

40 injured in boat collision off Pha Ngan

By Suwanee Banthisak

Surat Thani

 

Senior local officials insist no one killed in boat accident off Pha Ngan

 

SURAT THANI: -- The Surat Thani governor and Pha Nga police chief insisted Sunday that no one was killed or went missing in the boat accident off Koh Pha Ngan late Saturday night, which injured 40 people.

 

The 40 injured people were admitted to three hospitals on Koh Samui.

 

The accident happened at about 20 minutes after midnight about two kilometers away from the island where a full moon party was being held on the Rin Beach Saturday night.

 

The Phetcharat 59, a speed boat, was ferrying 25 tourists from Rin Beach back to Samui when it collided head-on with Chalerm Choknava 5, which was taking 39 tourists from Samui to attend the full moon party.

 

Prawet Supachai, chief of Samui Marine Transport Office, said he was on the Phetcharat 59 when the accident occurred.

 

He said the collision sounded very loud and the bows of the two boats were broken into pieces, causing the two boats to sink very fast.

 

Prawet said it was fortunate that a patrol boat of the Surat Thani Marine Police came to rescue the tourists and crew very fast. Other speed boats nearby also rushed in to help.

 

He said he had earlier instructed officials at piers to make sure that all passengers of speed boat wear air jackets so they could be recued fast without anyone being killed.

 

Surat Thani Governor Damri Boonjit said no one was killed in the accident, which would have no impact on the tourism on Pha Ngan and Samui islands.

 

He said police were investigating the case.

 

Pol Col Jarun Uchuparp, chief of the Pha Ngan police station said police were interrogating crew of the two speed boats. The crew insisted no one was killed or went missing, Jarun said.

 

Twenty-nine tourists were admitted to the Bangkok Samui Hospitsal, 6 to Bandon Inter Samui Hospital and 5 other to Thai Inter Samui Hospital.

 

The accident did not disrupt the party that continued until the morning. By 8 am, many foreign tourists were seen lying apparently drunk on the Rin Beach .

 

The Full Moon Party on Pha Ngan is well-known as the venue for tourists to come for drinks and dancing all night long.

 

The Nation

 

[color:red]Note how it won't impact tourism rather than trying to prevent similar accidents in the future![/color]

[Flashermac]

Says the Bangkok Post:

 

 

At least 40 people have been injured in a head-on collision between two speedboats carrying tourists taking part in a full-moon party on Koh Pha-ngan.

 

The collision happened about 12.30am yesterday in waters between Koh Samui and Koh Pha-ngan.

 

The force of the impact severely damaged the two speedboats and threw passengers into the water.

 

They were left stranded in the sea before being rescued by marine police and passing speedboats. There was heavy rain and strong winds when the accident happened.

 

Twenty-nine injured passengers were sent to Bangkok Hospital Samui, six were admitted to Ban Don International Hospital on Koh Samui and five to Thai International Hospital Koh Samui.

 

Ten foreigners - three Britons, five Australians, one Ukrainian and one Singaporean - were among the injured.

 

One speedboat, Phummipat 59, was carrying 23 tourists who were returning from a full-moon party on Koh Pha-ngan to Koh Samui.

 

It collided with another speedboat, Sawasdi Chalermchoke Nawa 5, which was taking 39 passengers from Koh Samui to Koh Pha-ngan. The Sawasdi Chalermchoke Nawa 5 is owned by Sea Beach Tour and Transport Co.

 

[color:red]Preecha Chorsuwannachart, a passenger on board the Sawasdi Chalermchoke Nawa 5, said the boat travelled at high speed and did not have its signal lights switched on.[/color]

 

Mr Preecha, who is a member of the Nonthaburi provincial administration organisation, said the boat collided with the other boat, throwing passengers into the sea.

 

Weeraphan Phetchara, who was driving the Phummipat 59, said he did not see the signal lights of the other boat before the collision.

 

Thuenjai Phetcharat, who runs Phetcharat Marina Co which owns the Phummipat 59, said the company has accident insurance to cover passengers. They will each receive 100,000 baht.

 

She said she is willing to bring the driver of the Phummipat 59 to police for questioning.

 

[color:red]Police said the licence for the Sawasdi Chalermchoke Nawa 5 has expired and not been renewed and it also has no insurance documents.[/color]

 

[color:red]The Sawasdi Chalermchoke Nawa 5 capsized on Jan 25, 2005, while taking tourists from a full-moon party on Koh Pha-ngan. Fifteen passengers drowned in the accident. Police said the boat sank because it was overloaded.[/color]

 

 

[limbo]

The Sawasdi Chalermchoke Nawa 5 was possibly overloaded but they had also tempered with the engines and steering construction which apparently caused the boat to flip over.

 

Unbelievable but truely TIT that this guy/company is still in business.

[Torneyboy]

We can only hope for not much longer.....

[Adam Zuberi]

I was on the Pha-Ngan to Samui boat, here is my witness statement

 

It had been raining Thailand style, anyone who has been to Thailand knows what I mean but as we set off it had stopped and the sea was fairly calm.

I was the last to board the boat, so sat down at the front in the kind of V that the front of a speed boat has with these 2 girls and got chatting with them, I remember noticing that the guys sitting across from me were tourist police but didn’t think much of it at the time. The sides were quite high so we couldn't see out.

 

We'd been going for about 10 mins, one of the crew was standing in the middle between where I was sitting and where the tourist police were sitting, as he was standing he could see out and then suddenly started shouting and waving a little hand held torch.

About 3 seconds latter there was a huge bang, the next thing I know is that I'm falling backwards in to the sea, I took a deep breath and swam out through the hole and was now effectively out to sea, but next to the boat.

I wasn't afraid or feared drowning or anything, I just knew I needed to get back on the boat. To be honest I don't think I was thinking, more just reacting if that makes any sense?

 

Something was tugging at my leg, not enough to pull me under but more like trying to get my attention, so I reached down and came up with bits of debris, I tried a few more times and found more debris so started to swim to the back of the boat but as I did I realized that I now had 2 girls without life jackets clinging to me, so all I could do was kick through the debris to get to the back of the boat.

 

I do clearly remember shouting at this guy who was still on board to put the boarding ladder down so we could all climb back on board but he just stood there, I called a few more times to him but he didn't do anything, I think he was one of the crew, not sure, so I swam across to the other side of the outboard motors where a guy on board and I got the 2 girls out the water.

 

There was a girl calling to me from a few meters away, I’m not sure if I went to get her or she managed to come to me but we got her on board, she had a massive head injury and part of her calf muscle missing. There was another girl about 20 or 30 meters out to sea calling for help, I shouted to someone on board to go and help her but no one went so I started to swim out and I think someone else had also gone as she seemed to be right there in only as few strokes so we got her on board, I tried to climb up myself but was too tired so some other guys climbed up and then turned round and helped me up.

 

We seemed to be out at sea for ages until help turned up.

 

As for the media reports, I never saw the other boat capsized or sink, its possible that it spun fully and it is also possible that it sank after we left on the police launch but I never saw that. I did see some smoke coming from it like it was on fire but that could have been anything, steam off the hot engines for example and I certainly didn’t see flames.

 

Our boat had no lights on, I can not say for the other boat, out boat did not slow down, we were still full throttle at point of impact and we did not deviate course, as in our boat did not try to steer out of the way.

 

I have not been offered any compensation from the boat companies and had no contact with them.

[Flashermac]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

[ThaiHome]

Appears one company is a reputable, serious company and the other is just the opposite. Here is a statement from Pethcerat Marina posted on TV. I suspect this is not the boat the poster above was on.

 

 

Pethcerat Marina is the largest speed boat on samui. the captains of this company go through a very intensive training program and are very experienced.

 

the Pethcerat Company works closely with the marine police in Samui on regular basis because we regard safety as a first priority and specially on full moon nights when each boat is examined for load and inspected by the marine police. and any one who has been on our pier can vouch for that FACT!!!

 

the boats are not allowed to depart before they are examined for safety and that all passengers are wearing life jackets.. we do so because we believe that it the only way to assure the passengers safety. each captain has a qualified captain license the boat registration and the boat insurance papers. every boat that has any mechanical problem is rejected and not allowed to travel. the Suggestion that the captains are a group of hooligans with no experience running on yaba or alcohol is nothing short of defamation and just plain lie!!! the incident of last night is a terrible incident where a boat from sea breeze traveling with no license, no insurance and passengers with no life jackets collided with the petcherat Boat. At the time of the incident the water was not stormy and visibility was good as it was a full moon . The storm that prevented boats traveling before was clear .. and the captain along with marine police has determined that he can run the boat safely.. however Petcherat Captain could not see the sea breeze boat as it was running with out lights. The Pethcerat boat has suffered the impact on the left hand side providing further evidence that the sea breeze captain did not give right of way or pass to the right under marine laws. When the incident was reported. Petcherat other boats that were parked in koh phangan as well marine police boats along with private boat owners in petcherat Marina were first on the scene rescuing the injured and scouting the water to make sure that all those involved were rescued. the petcherat Marina team advised the emergency services and samui rescue to come to marina and assist in transporting the injured to hospitals. all the hospitals were notified and prepared for the arrival on the injured.. and this was done in less then an hour from the moment of impact. the Samui chief of marine police and harbor department was on the petcherat boat and was injured and witnessed and reported the facts as above.

 

Pethcerat Team have been to the hospital to visit the injured and offered any help they can to assist and support those injured in the time of need.. the Captain in the incident has been interviewed and questioned both by the police and the marine police as well as the other captain of the sea breeze boat. they did not run away they did not disappear!!!!! the gave full account of what happened to the authorities.

 

Pethcerat Company is not "mafia " or influential owned. as may other speed boat companies in samui.. it is owned and operated by hard working people who have invested many years in making this company the leading company in samui. Pethcerat Marina regrets that this terrible incident has happened and is doing everything with the authorities to learn and advise so as it will not happen again.

 

Petcherat Marina is sorry that this incident has, while happened and addressed properly, was the target of some members on this forum who while using anonymity cast a shadow on the speed boat companies that are operating in professional way. and regrets to see some of the postings on this board that were made by those who have no idea of the facts.

 

Since this board is very popular an important source of information to members and non members it is also expected that there will be some responsibility for posts and not speculative flaming remarks specially when this terrible incident has such public impact. we truly regret that some members on this forum have decided to use this terrible incident to defame and make baseless accusations.

 

We invite those of you who are truely interested in this matter to come to the marina and get first hand explanations and details.

 

[limbo]

Here are pictures of the Petcharat boat after the collision in the dry dock. The impact must've been rather huge, looking at the size of the hole in the boats body.

[Adam Zuberi]

I was on Petcharat 59 from Koh Pha Ngan to Koh Samui.

I can't argue with any of that statement and it matches up with my version of events however I did not see lights on our boat either.

That could just be because of where I was sitting which was right in the middle of the what is no longer there in those pictures.

After seeing those pictures I am now physically shaking.