Police raid 11 spots linked to Phuket boat tragedy

[webfact]

Police raid 11 spots linked to Phuket boat tragedy

By The Nation

 

 

RESPOND TO TIPS ALLEGING MONEY LAUNDERING AND CHINESE OWNERSHIP

 

POLICE SEARCHED 11 locations in Phuket yesterday as part of their investigation into allegations that two tour companies involved in recent boat tragedies might have used Thai nominees and been involved in money laundering. 

 

Lazy Cat Travel and TC Blue Dream have been closely scrutinised since their boats sank in the sea off Phuket last Thursday. The incident caused 46 deaths and at least two tourists are still unaccounted for. 

 

 

“We have now worked in collaboration with several agencies, including the Anti-Money Laundering Office [Amlo] and the Commerce Ministry,” said the Tourist Police Division’s deputy commander Pol Maj-General Surachate Hakparn.

 

Searched yesterday were the offices of the two companies, the houses of their executives and three related businesses in Phuket.

 

Surachate said documents at some locations were in English language only. 

 

 

“Our moves are in line with the policy to crack down on foreign businesses that have operated in Phuket under the front of Thai nominees,” Surachate said.

 

The use of nominees is illegal in Thailand. Thai nominees, if convicted, risk facing a jail term and a fine. 

 

Chinese citizen Zhang Wenhao is the husband of TC Blue Dream’s owner Woraluck Rueakchaiyakan, who is Thai. He was not in Thailand when the accident happened last week and it was later reported in China that he describes himself as a diving instructor and an employee of his 26-year-old wife’s firm. 

 

According to the report, all employees in the company, except captains and crew members, are Chinese.

 

Phoenix captain Somjing Boonchom is currently detained at Phuket Provincial Prison on charges of recklessness causing deaths and emotional-physical injuries to others. All those who died were on his boat. 

 

There were no deaths and all tourists were rescued when Lazy Cat Travel’s Serenata sank.

 

About 49 per cent of Lazy Cat Travel’s shares belong to a Chinese firm. 

 

Both Phoenix and Serenata reportedly violated a safety warning and ventured out to sea despite rough conditions last Thursday. 

 

Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat said relevant authorities would meet on Friday to discuss marine safety and how to improve safety measures. 

 

So far, 37 bodies from the accident have been identified. 

 

 

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwon, yesterday offered an apology for a comment he made following the tragedies. 

 

“If my words offended you, I would like to apologise,” he said. 

 

He spoke after his earlier comments had whipped up a storm of criticism on social media in China. Following the accidents, Prawit suggested Chinese operators violating laws and causing harm to their fellow Chinese were to blame. 

 

Prawit yesterday said he made the comment after receiving a report suggesting it was true.

 

“Please do not mix things up. We offer assistance to victims. That’s one thing. But we will take action against those who break the law. That’s the other thing,” Prawit said.

 

He said that while the government had extended its sincere condolences to Chinese people over the tragedies and would provide full help to the injured and deceased victims’ families, Thai police would need to take action against those responsible for the incidents. 

 

“An investigation will continue to dig deep into why these two boats left the shore despite the warning,” he said. 

 

Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai tried to downplay Prawit’s comment. 

 

“I think the comment will not affect the relationship [between two countries],” he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30349775

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-07-11

[Rhys]

.. the press is coming, the press is coming.

[faraday]

Was it a "raid" or a "search". There's a difference.

[pattayadgw]

I have yet to read anywhere... how many passengers was the Phoenix registered to carry onboard? 

[stevenl]

8 minutes ago, pattayadgw said:

I have yet to read anywhere... how many passengers was the Phoenix registered to carry onboard? 

I have not seen this officially confirmed, but it was 100 or 120.

 

But with officials not mentioning overloading, it is obvious it had not taken more than it was allowed to do.

Edited July 11, 2018 by stevenl

[huuwi]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

An investigation will continue to dig deep into why these two boats left the shore despite the warning,” he

and what about the other 100 boats that where out that day?

 

[bluesofa]

3 minutes ago, huuwi said:

3 hours ago, webfact said:

An investigation will continue to dig deep into why these two boats left the shore despite the warning,” he

and what about the other 100 boats that where out that day?

They weren't involved caught doing anything to harm the good name of Thailand's tourist industry, so no charges will be pressed.

 

[Vacuum]

1 minute ago, huuwi said:

and what about the other 100 boats that where out that day?

 

Nobody (the media) cares about them as they didn't have any accidents/casualties.

[stevenl]

Just now, Vacuum said:

Nobody (the media) cares about them as they didn't have any accidents/casualties.

Why would they care? There was no warning, all boats just went about doing their business as they always do.

[Vacuum]

8 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Why would they care? There was no warning, all boats just went about doing their business as they always do.

Quote

Prawit sad the boat left the journeyed from Phuket's shore to the satellite island of Koh Racha despite a weather warning and a ban on boats leaving the dock by the Meteorological Department.

 

Edited July 11, 2018 by Vacuum

[300sd]

It's my understanding that one man holds up a red or green flag at the exit to the marina, to let the boats know if they can go out or not.

 

If this is the true, and I was a passenger, I would be a little nervous!

Edited July 11, 2018 by 300sd

[steelepulse]

24 minutes ago, Vacuum said:

 

Prawit telling some porky pies.  Only thing mentioned was a general  storm watch advisory.

[bluesofa]

2 minutes ago, steelepulse said:

Prawit telling some porky pies.  Only thing mentioned was a general  storm watch advisory.

Shurely shome mishtake?

 

[colinneil]

2 minutes ago, steelepulse said:

Prawit telling some porky pies.  Only thing mentioned was a general  storm watch advisory.

Prawit telling porkies !!! I am shocked, he is an honourable man.?

 

[mentalcolonization]

I can see Thailand becoming a movie hub.

[Robsweblinks]

A little collateral damage  in Thai tourism

[Oziex1]

I'm waiting for the announcement of a revised and detailed maritime tourism safety management plan. 

I maybe waiting for sometime.

[Get Real]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

two tour companies involved in recent boat tragedies might have used Thai nominees and been involved in money laundering. 

With the result of the high death toll included, I would believe that they know what they are doing for the rest of their life, which is also 100% percent as it should be.

[Srikcir]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

might have used Thai nominees

TC Blue Dream was reported to be owned by the Thai wife of a Chinese national. The husband says he's an employee with no mention of ownership. That's not a "nominee" in the literal sense.

Lazy Cat Travel was 49% owned by a Chinese national. No mention of the 51% ownership. I suspect a similar ownership like Blue Dream.

 

[marko kok prong]

Big joke strikes again,one has to wonder how much sleep this guy gets.

[stevenl]

1 hour ago, Vacuum said:

 

Yes, he has said this many times because authorities are covering their ass. There was no warning, and boats were allowed to leave, the green flag was waving.

[happy chappie]

You can see the authorities plying vengeance.its 49% owned by Chinese .theres no nominee.there was no severe weather warning.it is plain to see that the Chinese are being hung out when it is obviously the fault of the captain alone.its a win win for the authorities who will pass all the blame on the tour companies and grab every baht in the process.when there's the smell of big money and any property involved the police go into overdrive.so far everything seems to be ok with this company apart from the captain.

[stevenl]

1 minute ago, happy chappie said:

You can see the authorities plying vengeance.its 49% owned by Chinese .theres no nominee.there was no severe weather warning.it is plain to see that the Chinese are being hung out when it is obviously the fault of the captain alone.its a win win for the authorities who will pass all the blame on the tour companies and grab every baht in the process.when there's the smell of big money and any property involved the police go into overdrive.so far everything seems to be ok with this company apart from the captain.

"it is plain to see that the Chinese are being hung out when it is obviously the fault of the captain alone."

 

Don't agree with that, the boat was not built for heavy weather and should probably not have been allowed to sail (in general, not specifically that day). An example of the way things are handled with boats permission, officially the tour boats are required to get a certificate from the shipyard they're in good working order once a year. I know of one boat that has not received this permission, simply because it did not go to the shipyard. First year and second year: 50,000 Baht fine, but still allowed to go out and take guests out.

 

I know that if the weather is not nice there are boats that I will go on and others I will not use.

[saminoz]

32 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Yes, he has said this many times because authorities are covering their ass. There was no warning, and boats were allowed to leave, the green flag was waving.

I can understand, to a certain extent, stevenl's constant rush to defend the actions ofthese operators as he seems to have a vested interest in the tourism industry in Phuket, given his insights and knowledge of the vessel(s).

It does, however, draw uncomfortable similarities with the rush to defend the same industry on Death Island following the murdrs of the two British backpackers a couple of years ago.  Then, several farang with business interests there would post anything to try and keep their income intact!

At the end of the day, the remarkably simplistic chart that stevenl keeps posting is just what it says - it's a travel advisory, not a meteorological forecast.

Generally, any skipper's ticket requires a certain degree of knowledge of meteorology.  The higher the qualification, the deeper the depth of knowledge required.  I would expect the sk1pper of a boat carrying so many passengers to be fully conversant with the subject.  Especially being as highly decorated as he seemed to be, given all his fancy ribbons on his toy uniform!

It is the responsibility of the skipper to use all available means to assess the prevailing conditons and use the information to hand to forecast future weather and sea conditions for his area and intended passages.

I wonder if this "captain" actually bothered to do so?  Did he re-assess periodically through the day?

In most countries now, such vessels would, bby law, have to be fitted with GMDSS equipments which send automaic alerts in the event of bad weather.  Were these voats fittedwith such?   Were such warnings even issued?

Faling that, both boats simply had to be fitted with marine VHF and crews are always supposed to be monitoring Channel 16, the international hailing frequency.  No mention of any warnings, Pan-Pan or Mayday messages that I have read thus far.

Perhaps the "captain" and his cowardly crew were too busy saving their own asses?

[metisdead]

A post in violation of the following has been removed:

 

16) You will not make changes to quoted material from other members posts, except for purposes of shortening the quoted post. This cannot be done in such a manner that it alters the context of the original post.

 

 

[stevenl]

7 minutes ago, saminoz said:

I can understand, to a certain extent, stevenl's constant rush to defend the actions ofthese operators as he seems to have a vested interest in the tourism industry in Phuket, given his insights and knowledge of the vessel(s).

It does, however, draw uncomfortable similarities with the rush to defend the same industry on Death Island following the murdrs of the two British backpackers a couple of years ago.  Then, several farang with business interests there would post anything to try and keep their income intact!

At the end of the day, the remarkably simplistic chart that stevenl keeps posting is just what it says - it's a travel advisory, not a meteorological forecast.

Generally, any skipper's ticket requires a certain degree of knowledge of meteorology.  The higher the qualification, the deeper the depth of knowledge required.  I would expect the sk1pper of a boat carrying so many passengers to be fully conversant with the subject.  Especially being as highly decorated as he seemed to be, given all his fancy ribbons on his toy uniform!

It is the responsibility of the skipper to use all available means to assess the prevailing conditons and use the information to hand to forecast future weather and sea conditions for his area and intended passages.

I wonder if this "captain" actually bothered to do so?  Did he re-assess periodically through the day?

In most countries now, such vessels would, bby law, have to be fitted with GMDSS equipments which send automaic alerts in the event of bad weather.  Were these voats fittedwith such?   Were such warnings even issued?

Faling that, both boats simply had to be fitted with marine VHF and crews are always supposed to be monitoring Channel 16, the international hailing frequency.  No mention of any warnings, Pan-Pan or Mayday messages that I have read thus far.

Perhaps the "captain" and his cowardly crew were too busy saving their own asses?

Sorry, no, your post is really, really sad, and completely besides the truth. Your comment 'it's a travel advisory, not a meteorological forecast.' is of the charts. It is not a travel advisory, it is the weather warning system of the TMD, the official agency responsible for this.

[saminoz]

34 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Sorry, no, your post is really, really sad, and completely besides the truth. Your comment 'it's a travel advisory, not a meteorological forecast.' is of the charts. It is not a travel advisory, it is the weather warning system of the TMD, the official agency responsible for this.

I'm afraid you only continue to show your ignorance of the subject, sadly.

 

I believe that what you like to keep posting is issued as a "warning"?  However, that is very generalised and extremely dumbed down for the public, not intended as a passage panning tool for captains, commercial or pleasure.  At the very least the sk1pper should have checked the Shipping Forecast which generally gives a lot more detail, such as for today:

 

Andaman sea

Cloudy with fairly widespread thundershowers and isolated heavy to very heavy rain. Phuket northwards: Southwesterly winds 11-24 knots or 20-45 km/hr. Wave height 2-4 meters and above 4 meters in thundershower areas. Krabi southwards: Southwesterly winds 11-22 knots or 20-40 km/hr. Wave height 2-3 meters and above 3 meters in thundershower areas.

 

In addition to that, the TMD issues 6-hourly weather warnings like this:

 

Weather Warning "Heavy Rain and Strong Wind and Waves over Thailand"  No. 3 Time Issued : July 11, 2018

The monsoon trough lies across the North of Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam through to the active low pressure over the upper South China Sea, and the strong southwest monsoon prevails over the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. During 11-15 July, 2-4 meters of waves is forecast for the Andaman and 2-3 meters for the upper Gulf from Surat Thani passing north. All ships should proceed with caution, and small boats keep ashore. Torrential rain will be likely in the South while isolated heavy rain will be forecast for the North, the Northeast, the Central and the East. Residents over the areas should beware of the severe weather while the coast watches for inshore surges.                  The advisory is in effect on 11 July 2018, at 5.00 a.m.          The next issue will be on 11 July 2018 at 11.00 a.m.    I have been unable to find this information for the day in question on the TMD site, perhaps another member may have it?  Do you find it strange that the warnings for the 5th July are no longer shown on the TMD website?   Did you even click the warning and see the detail I show above?   You'll see that it mentions something called "low pressure".  Not a mention of it in the information you like to post.  Any mariner, or aviator come to that, will constantly keep an eye on the barometer for drops, especialy rapid drops, in barometric pressure as a surefire warning of bad things to come.  Ships'/boats' ourly logs include the barometric pressure, always.   I doubt that this vessel even kept such a log.  They just trundled out into the same route they always did, not a care in the world as to them, I am sure, it was just another day, another boat full of Chinese tourists.  They were not a skipper and crew, they were no better tha a mini-bus and conductors.  They showed that when they abandoned more than half their pasengers to their fates!   I don't know much but I do know tis subject and have spent more thn half my life on the sea, have single handed across the Atlantic, have raced as navigator off-shore and ocean and sailed many, many yachts large and small.  Oh, the occasional warship as well.   You mange to read a one line weather factoid (warning/advisory? Who cares, it should NOT have been the nformaton that the captain relied upon to make his wrong decision that day) and spout off like some local sage?  It would be funny, if were not so tragic!   Now, was I right about you having a vested interest in Phuket tourism?  You never did say.

Edited July 11, 2018 by saminoz
further explanation.

[happy chappie]

5 minutes ago, stevenl said:

"it is plain to see that the Chinese are being hung out when it is obviously the fault of the captain alone."

 

Don't agree with that, the boat was not built for heavy weather and should probably not have been allowed to sail (in general, not specifically that day). An example of the way things are handled with boats permission, officially the tour boats are required to get a certificate from the shipyard they're in good working order once a year. I know of one boat that has not received this permission, simply because it did not go to the shipyard. First year and second year: 50,000 Baht fine, but still allowed to go out and take guests out.

 

I know that if the weather is not nice there are boats that I will go on and others I will not use.

As you've mentioned many times,there was no severe weather warning so this boat was ok to sail.i think your now being hypocritical about this.ive read quite a lot of your replies and at first you were saying there was no problem this boat setting out as there was no weather warning to this boat was not built for heavy weather and should probably not set sail.

[stevenl]

13 minutes ago, saminoz said:

I'm afraid you only continue to show your ignorance of the subject, sadly.

 

I believe that what you like to keep posting is issued as a "warning"?  However, that is very generalised and extremely dumbed down for the public, not intended as a passage panning tool for captains, commercial or pleasure.  At the very least the sk1pper should have checked the Shipping Forecast which generally gives a lot more detail, such as for today:

 

Andaman sea

Cloudy with fairly widespread thundershowers and isolated heavy to very heavy rain. Phuket northwards: Southwesterly winds 11-24 knots or 20-45 km/hr. Wave height 2-4 meters and above 4 meters in thundershower areas. Krabi southwards: Southwesterly winds 11-22 knots or 20-40 km/hr. Wave height 2-3 meters and above 3 meters in thundershower areas.

 

In addition to that, the TMD issues 6-hourly weather warnings like this:

 

Weather Warning "Heavy Rain and Strong Wind and Waves over Thailand"  No. 3 Time Issued : July 11, 2018

The monsoon trough lies across the North of Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam through to the active low pressure over the upper South China Sea, and the strong southwest monsoon prevails over the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. During 11-15 July, 2-4 meters of waves is forecast for the Andaman and 2-3 meters for the upper Gulf from Surat Thani passing north. All ships should proceed with caution, and small boats keep ashore. Torrential rain will be likely in the South while isolated heavy rain will be forecast for the North, the Northeast, the Central and the East. Residents over the areas should beware of the severe weather while the coast watches for inshore surges.                  The advisory is in effect on 11 July 2018, at 5.00 a.m.          The next issue will be on 11 July 2018 at 11.00 a.m.    I have been unable to find this information for the day in question on the TMD site, perhaps another member may have it?   You'll see that it mentions something called "low pressure".  Not a mention of it in the information you like to post.  Any mariner, or aviator come to that, will constantly keep an eye on the barometer for drops, especialy rapid drops, in barometric pressure as a surefire warning of bad things to come.  Ships'/boats' ourly logs include the barometric pressure, always.   I doubt that this vessel even kept such a log.  They just trundled out into the same route they always did, not a care in the world as to them, I am sure, it was just another day, another boat full of Chinese tourists.  They were not a skipper and crew, they were no better tha a mini-bus and conductors.  They showed that when they abandoned more than half their pasengers to their fates!   I don't know much but I do know tis subject and have spent more thn half my life on the sea, have single handed across the Atlantic, have raced as navigator off-shore and ocean and sailed many, many yachts large and small.  Oh, the occasional warship as well.   You mange to read a one line weather factoid (warning/advisory? Who cares, it should NOT have been the nformaton that the captain relied upon to make his wrong decision that day) and spout off like some local sage?  It would be funny, if were not so tragic!   Now, was I right about you having a vested interest in Phuket tourism?  You never did say.

I gave you the link to the site, showing you there was no warning. Accept that or not, but your posts here show you really have no clue. As you can see, it says 'weather warning', not 'travel advisory'.

"I don't know much" Yes, agree with you there.

Edited July 11, 2018 by stevenl

[stevenl]

2 minutes ago, happy chappie said:

As you've mentioned many times,there was no severe weather warning so this boat was ok to sail.i think your now being hypocritical about this.ive read quite a lot of your replies and at first you were saying there was no problem this boat setting out as there was no weather warning to this boat was not built for heavy weather and should probably not set sail.

There was no problem that day boats setting sail. There is a problem with certifying tourboats to operate and requirements they have to meet.