18 hours ago, Tallviking said:

23 passengers in such a small boat !!??

Looks big enough for 6, possibly 8 in a pinch, 23 plus the staff. 

18 hours ago, Tallviking said:

23 passengers in such a small boat !!??

That's one of the rescue boats in the picture.

25 minutes ago, Ulic said:

Looks big enough for 6, possibly 8 in a pinch, 23 plus the staff. 

That's one of the rescue boats in the picture.

why can't the Chinese swim?

5 hours ago, Benmart said:

The Chinese government would do well to ban their citizens from coming to LOS for six months. Then perhaps some improvement in safety would materialize. Unfortunately, once the cash cow returned, so would the greed, corruption and lax safety practices come back.

or mandatory swimming lessons

3 hours ago, moutamine said:

At least they won't ever bring people to Samet with that boat again!!  That boat is kapoot! 

No.. they'll salvage it and nail a patch over the hole - no one will ever know as it's below the water line.... (And I'm not joking, if you see the state of many of the boats when they're out of the water.) 

Surely it must for all boat tourist operators to have checked the suitability of all tender boats with a certificate pertaining to the MAXIMUM people on board. If they do not adhere to all boating rules ,suitable life jackets with certification plus all rules which have been adopted in modern countries. I am 71 y.o now so I cannot see this transition happening. From an old rescue  boatie from days gone bye. Common sense and training  are a  huge factor in safe boating.

19 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Police said they’re investigating whether the boat owner, a company named Black Marlin, has a proper license, adding that the pilot had run away.

He was worried about any Chinese ghosts , they are more powerful than Thai ghosts. 

 

Now you must ask a most serious question "Does anyone really give a shit?"

I always use Thai Boats  / Thai Ferry's...but than again I am not afraid of dying

"the pilot had run away." Now there's a surprise!

 

Seriously, do these speedboat owners not have to check the credentials of prospective employees, including addresses, and  details of who to contact in an emergency? If not - why not? 

but why would anyone SAVE them??

34 minutes ago, Accidental Tourist said:

I always use Thai Boats  / Thai Ferry's...but than again I am not afraid of dying

Me neither. I use Grecian 2000.

13 minutes ago, sambum said:

"the pilot had run away." Now there's a surprise!

 

Seriously, do these speedboat owners not have to check the credentials of prospective employees, including addresses, and  details of who to contact in an emergency? If not - why not? 

Because that's being proactive, it's only possible to act reactively here.

Why 23 in such a small boat they must have been packed in like sardines . Not good for TAT a lot of Chinese cancellations I fear .

On 2/7/2019 at 6:47 AM, Tallviking said:

23 passengers in such a small boat !!??

Chinese pack nicely...and it's Thailand!

On 2/7/2019 at 7:26 PM, Thechook said:

Don't know.  Maybe off topic but do wallets float?

They just take the pants and all ????

On 2/7/2019 at 8:26 PM, darksidedog said:

If he ran away across the water, his name is probably Jesus.

Cops can "find him" at most churches on Sundays.

...or not... ????

Not good for Thailand. Yet again another boat accident involving 23 Chinese tourists, just thankful nobody seems to be seriously hurt this time. The problem is that it could have easily been worse with 23 people drowned. So, the question is how many accidents does there have to be before the Thai authorities actually take this seriously? Seems that they care about the image more then actually doing anything about it.

 

Thailand is not considered a poorer country anymore and the days of lack of proper regulation when it comes to tourist / public safety is inexcusable. 

 

Authorities need to take this very seriously and focus on strict regulation, no back handers and put the public safety first whether tourist or not.

 

I fear they are running out of time before the reputation of the country gets damaged beyond repair and then it will be generations away from recovery. 

 

If people are good enough to spend their money to visit Thailand they should be treated with respect and are entitled to expect they are made as safe as possible,,,

Drop in the bucket

On 2/8/2019 at 9:50 AM, owenm said:

Don't Thai boats have a "Maximum of xx Passengers" sign displayed with capacity depending on boat size? I thought was now regulated. 

 

NO!

Also the passengerboats in BKK still get overloaded and it has gone very wrong already some years ago..after that they set up rules and regulations but that seems to be forgotten now.

 

After the ferry to Koh Larn sunk ALL PASSENGERS had to wear lifevests before the ferry would depart....why were the chinese not wearing life vests before departing?

Hey guys, just a quick off-topic question about Koh Samet.....am I able to use my yellow tax card to get a 'discount' on the 200b fee upon arrival at Koh Samet?  Cheers.

Probably a "cowboy" driver operating the boat for a Chinese tour company set up with a stolen Thai ID card even though it had a "proper" license!!