Seven people missing after Koh Samui ferry capsizes

[rooster59]

Seven people missing after Koh Samui ferry capsizes

 

Image: Thairath

 

Seven people are missing after a cargo ferry travelling from Koh Samui capsized on Saturday night.

 

The ferry, operated by the Raja Ferry Co, got into difficulty at around 10pm as it headed to Donsak pier.

 

The ferry was carrying a 10 wheel trailer, 3 garbage trucks and two pick up trucks. It wasn’t immediately exactly how many people were on board.

 

Thairath on Sunday said a total of 9 people had been rescued while 7 others were still missing. 

 

Officials said a full investigation will be launched into the incident but it is likely the ferry got into difficulty in strong waves. 

 

On Friday, Thailand’s Meteorological Department warned of storms and heavy weather nationwide.

 

This is a developing news story.
 

Source: Thairath

 

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[mr mr]

ohh man the timing on this one. 

[Neilly]

More info in this thread...

 

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1175776-samui-ferry-with-garbage-trucks-in-accident/

[petermik]

I discovered quite some time ago...don`t use Raja to get to Samui.

R.I.P. to the deceased

[Boomer6969]

R.I.P indeed.

 

But "Business as usual" for Thailand. Prospective Chinese tourists will be interested. And I get to worry that I am taking too many holidays to Koh Chang.

[josephbloggs]

A bit more info in the paper that can't be mentioned.  It had only made it two miles from Samui when it capsized so not as if the storm snuck up on it.  I am on Samui at the moment and the weather and sea are bad.  And there have been clear weather warnings and shipping warnings since the 31st July.

RIP to the dead, not a nice way to go.

And I'm certainly not taking my crossing back until this weather system has passed.  The storm is raging right now.

[ThailandRyan]

Why would a ferry run at the time of night, when warnings have been posted for the Monsoon and unsafe sea travel right know.  I wonder if one of the dump trucks was not locked in place and moved making the weight distribution unsteady when a swell hit.  

 

However, it does not matter, 7 lives are lost and my prayers are with there families.  RIP

[nightbird]

1 hour ago, Boomer6969 said:

R.I.P indeed.

 

But "Business as usual" for Thailand. Prospective Chinese tourists will be interested. And I get to worry that I am taking too many holidays to Koh Chang.

it's not the passenger ferry that tourists usually take. Last time I took the ferry was 1991 and I wouldn't do it again.

[mickymouse1]

2 hours ago, petermik said:

I discovered quite some time ago...don`t use Raja to get to Samui.

R.I.P. to the deceased

I very much doubt normal travellers use cargo ferry for crossing , not to mention the heavy loads!!

[robertson468]

Several years ago I went to meet my Wife who was arriving at Koh Samui on Raj Ferry.  The Pier has a horizontal bar supported by two upright bars and I could not believe my eyes that the arriving Ferry (with my Wife on it) was listing about 15 degrees to one side, which was emphasised by the horizontal bar on shore.   The seas were absolutely calm.  The only solution I can think of for this is that the vehicles had been shipped on in a manner that there was more weight on one side than the other.  I decided from then on, we would never travel by Raj again and would take the much better organised and more modern Ferries of Seatran from Nathon.  Really scary stuff.  My prayers are with those that have been lost in this incident.

[sahibji]

hope the ferry was carrying suitable number of protective equipment like life jackets to give passengers a chance of survival.

[josephbloggs]

10 minutes ago, robertson468 said:

Several years ago I went to meet my Wife who was arriving at Koh Samui on Raj Ferry.  The Pier has a horizontal bar supported by two upright bars and I could not believe my eyes that the arriving Ferry (with my Wife on it) was listing about 15 degrees to one side, which was emphasised by the horizontal bar on shore.   The seas were absolutely calm.  The only solution I can think of for this is that the vehicles had been shipped on in a manner that there was more weight on one side than the other.  I decided from then on, we would never travel by Raj again and would take the much better organised and more modern Ferries of Seatran from Nathon.  Really scary stuff.  My prayers are with those that have been lost in this incident.

I'm here on Samui with my family.  I haven't got the ferry to Samui in about 23 years so my friend who lives here told me "book Seatran, don't use Raja".  We came over on Seatran last week and it was a professional, well maintained and sea worthy vessel.  Lots of life jackets, life rafts etc and it took the scheduled 90 minutes for the crossing.

Another friend got a Raja.  He sent some pics - absolutely shocking.  Rotten walls and a huge gaping hole in the side of the passenger cabin!  And it took three hours.  The owners should definitely be charged.

[PFMills]

I’ve done that Crossing in bad weather. It’s true people do actually go green... For the return journey I didn’t have any breakfast, I was really glad I didn’t...

[Tropicalevo]

3 minutes ago, sahibji said:

hope the ferry was carrying suitable number of protective equipment like life jackets to give passengers a chance of survival.

I have not been on a Raja ferry for a while, but I am sure that they do carry lifejackets. Whether the passengers wear them or not is another thing.

Looking at some photos on another thread, I cannot see any lifejackets on the people in the water.

 

 

[RichardColeman]

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Officials said a full investigation will be launched into the incident but it is likely the ferry got into difficulty in strong waves. 

Or how about the captain of the boat ignored the bad conditions and still went ahead ?  

[pedro01]

I came across on the Seatran ferry to Samui last night. Left about 5:59pm and arrived about 7:30.

 

At that point, seas were calm, flat when we left and very small waves by the time we hit Samui. 

 

I am amazed things got that bad out there so fast. 

[pedro01]

9 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Or how about the captain of the boat ignored the bad conditions and still went ahead ?  

Not sure he necessarily did based on conditions in Samui at Lipa Noi Pier less than an hour earlier. Quite calm. 

[scubascuba3]

The problem i noticed 20 years ago was the ferries will go no matter what, money before safety always.

 

Also 20 years ago a ferry went down in the same area, rough seas, overloaded with concrete, hits a wave, concrete moves and ferry goes straight under, 56 on board

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Seven people missing after Koh Samui ferry capsizes

Safe secure trusted Thailand... didn't last very long.

R.i.P 

[DoctorG]

Overloaded/badly balanced?

[spidermike007]

Raja has alot of very old boats. Seatran is highly preferable and slightly faster. 

 

Wonder how this could have happened. It is the Gulf. Shallow waters. Near the port. An issue wjrh the boat itself? Poorly loaded? 

 

Tragic. Hope the missing people are found. Maybe they swam to shore and are unaccounted for? 

[KarenBravo]

1 hour ago, Tropicalevo said:

I have not been on a Raja ferry for a while, but I am sure that they do carry lifejackets. Whether the passengers wear them or not is another thing.

Looking at some photos on another thread, I cannot see any lifejackets on the people in the water.

 

 

Never, ever wear a life jacket when you are inside when on a boat.

If the boat rolls, or sinks, you will never get out.

[khunkarl]

If they were operating seaworthy ships and used good seamanship this would not have happened. I have worked at sea for 20 years so I would know about it. I used this company's ferry service a couple of times during good weather. At one of the occasions I was shocked by the state of the ship, basically the rust was holding the ship together. Many of their ships should not be allowed to sail and how they pass classification is unbelievable.

A couple of years ago one of their ferries caught fire.

 

[PEE TEE]

I did not know the ferries ran after 7pm. sad news i wonder how good the inspections for safety are on the  Raja company? 

 

[TKDfella]

Sad. My condolences to the families.

[Deli]

4 hours ago, Boomer6969 said:

R.I.P indeed.

 

But "Business as usual" for Thailand. Prospective Chinese tourists will be interested. And I get to worry that I am taking too many holidays to Koh Chang.

Some of the Raja boats are old Chinese 2nd / 3rd / 4th hand vessels.

The Chinese should feel very much like home on those, though

[Airbagwill]

Ro-Ro ferries are inherently unsafe...

 

 

 

[Airbagwill]

23 minutes ago, PEE TEE said:

I did not know the ferries ran after 7pm. sad news i wonder how good the inspections for safety are on the  Raja company? 

 

I guess this was a special...Samui is still trying to get rid of all the surplus rubbish that previous admins have allowed to accumulate.

If they'd dealt with the rubbish properly, this service would never have been needed.

[Airbagwill]

2 minutes ago, Deli said:

Some of the Raja boats are old Chinese 2nd / 3rd / 4th hand vessels.

The Chinese should feel very much like home on those, though

Age is one thing, but decks without bulkhead are extremely dangerous if water gets in. Imagine several tonnes of water and vehicles sloshing about.....it can overturn a vessel in seconds..

This applies to ALL ferries to the islands of Thailand.

[Raphus]

Well as an old sailor. The only reason a boat capsizes is due to the following:

- The boat did not have ballast tanks to distribute the weight evenly and right the ship/boat in the correct manner.

- The boat/ship took on water due to the weather and then started to list, which in rough weather would have caused a continual pendulum motion until it flipped.

 - The boat’s/ship’s load shifted during rough weather due to it not being lashed down correctly.

 

R.I.P. The mother has claimed more to her misunderstood strength.