Andaman Storm Sinks Dive Boat: Seven dead

[NBT TV Phuket]

VDO: search for 7 missing continues in the sea off Promthep, Phuket, after a diving boat sank; interviews with survivor & Director, Dive Asia

http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/prev...hp?news_id=1004

The search for 7 missing continues in the sea off Promthep, Phuket, after a diving boat sank on Sunday night.

A Dive Asia boat, Choke Somboon 19 or MV Dive Asia 1, carrying foreign scuba divers from a live-aboard trip to the Similans, sunk on its return to Phuket province on Sunday night at about 10.50pm, but the owners did not know until early Monday morning, when it did not return to Chalong Pier as expected. It apparently hit a sudden unexpected storm, and 23 people, 14 foreigners and 9 Thais, managed to get off the boat before it suddenly sunk apparently about 12 nautical miles off Promthep area. 7 people went missing at that time, including 6 foreigners (3 Austrians, 1 Japanese, 2 Swiss) and 1 Thai crew member. The survivors spent many hours in 2 life-rafts or the sea, before being spotted by fishermen, who then informed the Royal Thai Marine Police, who in turn collected them and brought them back to the Deep Sea Port at Ao Makham at about 4pm. The Phuket authority promptly set up a centre to handle the emergency at the port with assistance provided to survivors and families along with the dive company. The survivors’ names, accounts, and photos were taken. According to officials, the air search was suspended last night due to darkness and rain while boat radio networks were used last night among boat owners, but resumed this morning with the boat reportedly found near Cape Promthep. Despite being busy with assisting people yesterday, a Director from DiveAsia told us about the incident and the boat but first Michael Sampson, from Melbourne, Australia, exclusively told us more about what happened: (voice) ................

After that our reporter talked to Benno Brandon, PADI Course Director, of Dive Asia Company, the owner of the sunken boat. He explained their account of the tragic incident: (voice) …….

For more information & help call DiveAsia on 076 330598 and 076 284177. We hope the missing can still be found somehow, but pass our sincere wishes their family and friends.

Andaman News NBT TV (VHF dial) + Radio Thailand FM90.5 at 8.30am & perhaps repeats on Phuket Cable TV channel 1 at 7pm & 1am, broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces & maybe Mazz Radio FM108 at 7pm in Phuket, Tuesday 10th March 2009 & http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/

& www.YouTube.com/AndamanNews

Send comments to [email protected]

[Rhodiebkk]

MY sincere condolences to fellow divers lost at sea.

This tragedy does raise a number of serious questions in an industry

that could be best described as 'self regulating'.

1. I am extremely surprised that an experienced & one of the better operators [Dive Asia]

commissioning a boat design whose length is 4.5 times as it is in the beam,

with such a high supastructure and a shallow draft.

2. Their published list of safety equipment is not that impresive,

especially not having an automatic emergency responder to send out an automatic "SOS Signal" with

GPS coordinates. This "cost saving" will prove to be very costly on a number of fronts.

3. Getting a boat operators' certificate here should give no one any confidence that the boat is

actually seaworthy.

Paperwork can be generated by a number of means that avoid minimal if any any seaworthy trials or tests.

4. I am however very surprised by Dive Asia's apparent lax SOPs [standard Operating Proceedures] when

reacting to a late boat.

5. Anybody trapped in a cabin in a quickly capsizing boat at night would find it extremely difficult to extricate themselves,

especially if they were in a cabin below deck without light and possibly asleep at the time.

Obviously we will know more when the boat is found.

But whether lessons are learned and proceedures changed is another matter.

I somehow think not.

Should the boat be salvageable, she might not be sailing under Dive Asia's flag in the future;

but she will certainly not be sitting idle in Chalong Bay...

[HakimKlunker]

.....

Three different things can make waves. The wind, moon, and earthquakes can all make waves.

.....

True basically. But tide is predictable. Weather can be observed. Boats can be handled.

True also: Only a detail report will show what the situation actually was.

But most ships of this world stay afloat, and if not, there were humans involved: Captains/Skippers or builders who happened to make mistakes. Though doing watersports since about 25 years, I would say that still I did not see all and each day can bring a new surprise. Anyway, I suspect that in this case (again) we will later find that greed, irresponsibility and incompetence had their share in the disaster.

[HakimKlunker]

Actually a rogue wave has been mentioned, but judging from the captain's account, it wasn't a rogue wave.

I don't believe it was a rogue wave, I believe it was high winds that blew that "elevator shaft" type of boat over and sunk it because I bet it didn't have any water tight compartments. Sometimes I see those dive boats leaving Chalong and when they steer hard over it takes a long time to right its self. I have been saying for years that these so called expert Thai boat builders are creating a disaster in waiting.

Well that's my 2¢ worth after 35 years at sea.

Sorry if any casualties,

LiveSteam

Your observations are correct. BUT: Often the boat yards are requested to produce this or that and at least for my behalf I can say that I tell my customers when they talk nonsense or plan something un-safe. Very often we also find later modifications that conflict with the construction. Building requirements in Thailand are on a very low level and so I would say that at present the responsibility is in the hands of the operators. Which does not mean that the builders and naval architects are not also called to raise the standard.

[saneroad]

For any family members or others seeking updates, the Phuket Governor has set up two emergency telephone lines: 076 218444; 081 9794987 (International +66-76 218444; +66-81 9794987).

Jurgen Schenker of Dive Asia describes what he knows of the sinking and the remarkable story of survival in an interview here: http://phuketwan.com/tourism/nightmare-sea...at-disappeared/

Edited March 10, 2009 by saneroad

[stevenl]

I am however very surprised by Dive Asia's apparent lax SOPs [standard Operating Proceedures] when

reacting to a late boat.

The boat was not expected back in port untill around 08.00 in the morning. So it was not missed until then as well.

[Pseacraft]

I am however very surprised by Dive Asia's apparent lax SOPs [standard Operating Proceedures] when

reacting to a late boat.

The boat was not expected back in port untill around 08.00 in the morning. So it was not missed until then as well.

It has been previously published that the vessel was due at 0200 and Jurgen is quoted in the PhuketWan article as follows:

''It normally arrived between 2am and 4am."

"So the boat arrives in the morning . . . we were on the pier a little bit before 8am and at first we were a bit confused."

I don't expect Jurgen to personally meet each arrival but think someone from the company would be pier side and they should have at least tried to make radio contact. Maybe this happened, maybe not, we do not know. We do know the last known radio contact, reported so far, was around 2200 just before the mishap. I do think Jurgen would come down and debrief his crew and staff before they departed for the day hence the confusion with the vessel not being there just before 0800.

I am not familiar with the currents in the area but to think that the rescued group drifted about 50km in that time is amazing.

I mentioned before about the video in a Singapore of a waterspout:

I hope for the best for the remaining missing.

[stevenl]

You're right,. my mistake.

[seri thai]

Concerned to hear that some are still @ sea.

The German dive operators are normally the most reliable & efficiently run.

Am surprised on two counts:

1.why they didn't have an emergency transponder aboard that activates when a vessel goes down.

Especially as this was a new boat.

2. Looking at the images of the boat it does look remarkably 'top-heavy'.

The sinkings in the past have largely been down to 'operator error',

and the seas don't normally get high until next month.

But conditions can catch even the best seamen unawares.

Yep - An astute observation.

I have spent the last 12 years diving from vessels of this type all over Thailand... I concur with this gentlemens observation, though perhaps I will change the wording to "She looks INCREDIBLY top heavy"

Just a few years a go, one dive operator here in Pattaya (Nakluah Dockyard) launching a similar multi-storey vessel, and she literally capsized as soon as she had cleared the slip way. The designer and the dive school shall remain nameless to prevent blushes

Let me clearly state that boat building and the government inspection of completed vessels to local standards here in Thailand is comical.

From first hand experience I can also add that the licensing of the completed tubs together with the assignments of the government approved passenger load limits allowed on the decks, is also usually completely open to corruption . Pay the ship government ship surveyor some cash, and he'll pretty well give you a license for whatever passenger limit you want.

The boatyard, but more importantly the government ship surveyors appear to have no idea of even basic naval architecture, yet alone complex stability requirements... or even how to carry out a simple practical 'Heel Test' to confirm the maximum load limits, self righting capability. and load line placement.

I have never seen any formal 'Heel testing' testing carried out to a tourist boat anywhere here in Thailand. Step onto a locally built and licensed tourist boat of this type and you truly take your life into your own hands. They shouldn't be allowed anywhere other than lakes and mill ponds.

There are a few western outfits out here who build vessels to proven western designs with known stability to international standards, but they are very few and far between.

I could go on, and on, to list all the many faults that locally built tourists boats of this type have, but the mods would toast this email for sure. Enough to say, you won't find a straight piece of decent wood or a reliable weld anywhere on the vessel.

Strangely though, in this instance my instincts tell me that the fault likely does not lie with the dive tour operator, the boat builders, the boat captain, or the weather - even though there was a squall. After all, the local boat yard simply built the vessel according to a rough outline given to them by the dive tour operator, and the captain did the best job he could, handling a vessel begging to turn turtle on him.

No, the fault here likely lies with the government ship surveyor who granted this visibly top heavy and thus predictably unstable vessel a license to head off to sea, directly putting at risk the lives of everyone who boarded her ...and there are many like this operating at all the major tourist destinations here in Thailand.

SteveB2

I concur with the comments above and would add on the metereological side that the SW monsoon has come a little earlier this year and the associated squalls that come with it. If the vessel was returning to Chalong, Phuket Is from Similan then the wind was likely on the beam. I think this is why Takua-Pa is a popular harbour as the journey is shorter and less exposed in the monsoon. I have travelled on a variety of diveboats/liveaboards with varying stability issues in this area and always felt a little exposed on the upper deck, beam on.

On a more general note we read of tourist boats sinking in Thailand every year for the same lack of international standards. With the current recession and drop in tourism we will see more operators working "out of season" and more tourists wanting boat trips in the cheaper low season which suggests that statistics will not decrease.

Unfortunately most tourists don't seem to realise that standards applied in countries they live-in do not apply in "developing" nations.

I would also add the analogy that a Jumbo Burger in Hawaii is not the same price and standard as a Jumbo Burger in Haiti. Though franchise owners would have you think it was so. This is a global phenomenon.

These are general observations to fuel debate on the larger issue and should not be construed to apply in this case until more is known.

My deepest sympathies as ever are with the victims and their families both tourists and workers.

Caveat Emptor

[Apecks]

but resumed this morning with the boat reportedly found near Cape Promthep.

Something does not stack up here Steaming in from the Similans and sank at 10pm off Promthep Cape but the alarm not raised until 8am. Promthep Cape to Chalong Pier is only 8-10km!!!

Edited March 10, 2009 by Apecks

[thaiwanderer]

Unfortunately Phuket Gazette are reporting the body of Austrian national Gabrielle Jetzinger has been found near the accident site.

Bangkok Post state there has apparently been a helicopter search and an official is sourced as saying they believe the remaining missing persons may well have been trapped on the boat. I sincerely hope not but we are now getting further away from the time of sinking.

"Now we are looking for specially-trained divers who can dive down to the boat," he added.

There is much about the various press reports so far that seem to contradict one another (especially times of distress calls, eta's etc.) which I suppose is understandable given the nature of events and reporting, however whilst much of this may become clearer following the 'investigation' I doubt the full picture will ever emerge. Have my own thoughts about design of the boat, emergency equipment and procedures and even the apparent insurance limit of 200,000thb per person. It will however (rightly or wrongly) likely be put down to a freak unavoidable accident.

Thoughts and prayers with all those involved.

Edited March 10, 2009 by thaiwanderer

[stuandchris]

Anyone lost at sea has nothing but my sympathy,

As an ex merchant mariner I always feel more for this type of tradegy than most others.

I do have register my dismay of people jumping on the badwagon of 'top heavy' etc etc. If all you naval architects know your business would you call a cruise ship top heavy because you have seen a picture if it? Do you have some miracle knowledge of ship design where you can pronounce the ship was unseaworthry from a picture?

It isn't what is showing, it is about ballast and what is under the water.

I would request you keep uninformed opinions to yourself in this case. Out of all the three pages of response two have a clue about ship design and the same number can talk about unusual conditions.

Save the diatribe and consider the victims for the present.

I can give the uniformed lessons in GM's, centres of gravity, etc etc then you can post with some knowledge. Not looking at a picture.

[ophelia]

I was in a small snorkel tour boat in Belize a few years ago, that capsized at the reef. The boat was top heavy, poorly equipped for any sort of disaster at sea, (not enough life jackets for the number on board etc.) Whatever happened here with Dive Asia's boat, I can tell you that even in the relatively favorable conditions that the boat I was in had its roll-over, (day time, good weather, warm Caribbean water, plenty of other boats around, relatively quick rescue, no one injured,) it is a terrifying thing to experience. I am sorry for the families of the victims, for their loss. And I empathize with the survivors.

I also want to comment that it seems strange to me that so many people here post with such negativity. It would seem that those folks actually dislike Thailand/Thai culture, so I wonder why they would bother coming to a message board where all the posts are about Thailand/Thai culture. So many people enter a discussion with yet another trump card played, "See...it's Thailand's fault, it's the government's fault, it's the ministry of this or that's fault, it's the Thai people's fault..."

If Thailand bugs you so much, why do you bother with it at all?

[thaiwanderer]

experience over hope, usually

[saneroad]

Latest update, on Phuketwan.com

MARINE police found the sunken vessel about 8pm on Tuesday night on the seabed, broken in two. One piece is about 16 metres long, the other piece is 12 metres. They say it is at 71 metres. Marine police divers can only go to 30 metres but properly equipped technical divers can go much deeper.

[NBT TV Phuket]

VDO: The Search operation continued this morning, after a body of a woman was found from the diving boat accident in Phuket while six more were still missing.

http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/prev...hp?news_id=1007

Police patrol boat TOR 221 and the Royal Thai Navy Third Command along with staff from the charity foundation of Kusoltham brought to shore a body of a woman found about 20 kilometres away from the popular sunset view point of Promthep Cape on the south side of Phuket Island. The body was believed to be one of the missing Austrian divers. The Phuket Governor Preecha Rungjan held a meeting with all related agencies to get up-dates, instructing search and rescue teams to speed up operations searching for 6 other missing people, then yesterday afternoon he went on a navy plane to get an aerial view of the location where the diving boat is believed to be sunk. A so-called ‘war room’ acting as centre of command and information has also been set up at the provincial hall to provide any information and assistance survivors or families of tourist divers may need. A representative from Dive Asia Company told the meeting that experienced scuba divers and special equipment have been sent out to assist the search. Benno Brandon, a Director of Dive Asia Co, told Andaman News earlier that the boat was well equipped and only 4 months old. He said it had proper radio and radar communications, but the accident occurred swiftly and in the dark plus a rainy storm or freak wind. Officials from Austrian and Japanese Embassies came down to Phuket to look after their affected citizens. Some German and Austrian survivors requested to return to their countries and the Tourist Police have reportedly arranged with Immigration officials to facilitate convenient journeys for them. At 8am today, the Royal Thai Navy has sent up a helicopter to continue searching the area. We also got a report that on Sunday March 8th, a local fishing boat sank near Bon Island just south of Rawai, on the south side of Phuket. There were three people on board and one is still missing.

Andaman News NBT TV (VHF dial) + Radio Thailand FM90.5 at 8.30am & perhaps repeats on Phuket Cable TV channel 1 at 7pm & 1am, broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces & maybe Mazz Radio FM108 at 7pm in Phuket, Wednesday 11th March 2009 & http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/

& www.YouTube.com/AndamanNews Send comments to [email protected]

[geriatrickid]

This tragedy does raise a number of serious questions in an industry

that could be best described as 'self regulating'.

snip

Should the boat be salvageable, she might not be sailing under Dive Asia's flag in the future;

but she will certainly not be sitting idle in Chalong Bay...

Thank you for the well written post. At least your concern about the vessel being used again has been answered by the report of it's being broken in 2. (I assume that occurred when it hit the bottom.) Do they do structural analysis here after a boat is located to see if there was inherent device/defect? What if the boat's sinking was caused by a structural breach when a wave hit it? That info might be of use if the "shipyard" built similar vesels, or am I delusional? This is going to be very hard on some people when the bodies are not recovered. At least a proper investigation would offer some closure and perhaps prevent a similar tragedy.

I am however very surprised by Dive Asia's apparent lax SOPs [standard Operating Proceedures] when reacting to a late boat.

The boat was not expected back in port untill around 08.00 in the morning. So it was not missed until then as well.

I am ignorant on dive boat practices, but wouldn't it make sense to be calling in to the office every so often and reporting the vessel location? When we would go out into the bush, we had to radio in every 6 hours to provide our co-ordinates and condition. With the current satellite technology and gps, surely there are affordable systems that can do this for a small boat. I'm just curious as to the practice for sea vessels since I know squat on marine operations.

It really is a blow to tourism if you look at the type of people that were on that boat. These were the visitors you want. A week doesn't go by when there isn't a thread in TV lamenting the negative aspects of the tourist trade, and here is a positive activity that ends in tragedy.

[LivinLOS]

The dive boat that sunk and killed the tourist last year (and took anothers foot off) has been down and back up again 3 times now !! twice at that time and its back up now.

[MisterMan]

The dive boat that sunk and killed the tourist last year (and took anothers foot off) has been down and back up again 3 times now !! twice at that time and its back up now.

Wow I never heard this story.. which boat was that? What do you mean down and back?

2 tech divers went down today (now) to retrieve bodies.

I think it should be stated that Dive Asia's boat was probably safer then most as I have been on many dive boats (working in THailand ) and never one that I know of with inflatables that automatically dislodge and inflate. Dive Asia is a good company and they have done a lot to improve the dive industry .

Today, I am not sure who, but one of the owners gave a heartfelt teary-eyed speech as the tech divers went off to go look for the bodies.

Jurgeon is a good guy and I am sure this must be terribly tragic for him too...

[fiddlehead]

So many people enter a discussion with yet another trump card played, "See...it's Thailand's fault, it's the government's fault, it's the ministry of this or that's fault, it's the Thai people's fault..."

If Thailand bugs you so much, why do you bother with it at all?

I try to keep negativity out of my posts.

But I believe many of us on here would like to see the standards for safety improved somewhat.

Yes, I come from somewhere else and am a visitor here, but it's not easy seeing a child playing in the street with open holes in the sewers, open wells 15 meters deep with children playing around them no rules of the road, or at least no one follows any, zoning laws?, hospitals that turn dying people away, and now boats that are unsafe.

Does the government care? I like to think so. Hey, they put up lights after the murders between Nai Harn and Kata, even though now a year later, only a few of them work.

Infrastructure is lacking here. So are safety concerns. We are just trying to make it a better, safer place.

We all end up playing the blame game i guess even though sometimes there is no one to blame. (I'm thinking of the weather is sometimes the cause and might be in this case) But when the standards are so low, some of us try to get things improved.

Whether the government is listening or not is another question though.

[stevenl]

I have been on many dive boats (working in THailand ) and never one that I know of with inflatables that automatically dislodge and inflate.

On about 50% of the liveaboard boats here have these life rafts. The more expensive boats in general do have them.

Wow I never heard this story.. which boat was that?

That was the old Kingfisher boat. As a liveaboard boat it catered to maximum 12 people, allowed on board maximum 20. They got in trouble after the tsunami, the boat was sold and then resold again, and ended up in Phi Phi or Krabi, I'm not sure, with some rich Thai as a snorkeling boat. On the trip LOS is talking about it capsized close to Phi Phi with over 50 people on board, one dead and one hit by the prop.

Maintenance was poor and it was overloaded.

[AleG]

Broken in two??? I don't see how a boat of that size can break in two from hitting the bottom, if it went bow or aft first it's only 30 meters to touchdown, it just can't pick up that much speed. If it settled on one side or another it definitely should go down slowly, it isn't a battleship, those boats are wood and fiberglass constructions.

In my opinion if the report is correct and it broke up, it wasn't well built to begin with. Whether that was part or full cause of the sinking I couldn't tell.

[baabaabobo]

Phuket Gazette says four bodies have been found aboard

Four bodies found in sunken dive boat

PHUKET: -- The Phuket branch of the Department of Disaster Prevention & Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket) confirmed this afternoon that the bodies of four more victims from the dive boat Choke Somboon 19 have been discovered inside the sunken vessel.

Deep sea divers have been working with Marine Police since first light this morning to reach the sunken vessel, which lies 70 meters below the surface, to confirm that it is in fact the same vessel that capsized during a freak storm on Sunday night.

The Choke Somboon 19 was carrying 30 people, 23 of whom were rescued on Monday, leaving seven people missing.

The Gazette was told that the four victims were discovered at 3.30pm in two separate sleeping quarters – two bodies in each cabin – and have been identified by Marine Police as Swiss nationals Mr Klaus Konradder and Ms Monika Schuster, and Austrian nationals Ms Sibylle Bucher and Mr Rolf Niederberge.

The body of Austrian national Gabrielle Jetzinger was found yesterday, floating in the area where the vessel sank, leaving Thai national Ms Jumpa “Gen” Sorntat – the boat’s cook and Japanese national Mr Yuba Hirotsuga still unaccounted for.

-- Phuket Gazette 2009-03-11

[Quero]

those boats are wood and fiberglass constructions

For what it's worth, I believe she is a steel-hulled boat. If she is not intact, it may be that the upper structure has broken away from the hull, or some other yet to be revealed factor may be in play. There are precious few facts available, some of which have not become public. Speculation remains just that--poorly-informed guesses based on scant information that may very well be inaccurate.

Over 20 years ago I lost my father in a squall when his wood and fibreglass boat capsized. Recovery teams were only able to find bits and pieces of the boat--the waves pounded it and scattered the pieces. In my mind, it is possible that severe winds can not only have tipped the boat on its side but also churned up enough wave action to batter it.

At any rate, the focus for the present should be, in my opinion, on the victims, not on prematurely trying to pin the blame on whomever.

[LivinLOS]

The dive boat that sunk and killed the tourist last year (and took anothers foot off) has been down and back up again 3 times now !! twice at that time and its back up now.

Wow I never heard this story.. which boat was that? What do you mean down and back?

The boat had been sunk and refloated by the sea gypsies twice before this sinking.. Its since been refloated for the 3rd time and is again working in Thai waters !!

Why would the owner stop doing his business.. He never paid any price for the loss of life or foot of the farang passengers.

[Quero]

Wow did the Gazette have it faster then Phuket Wan? That is a first.

Yes they found the 4 bodies but could not retrieve them as they were stuck in the cabins. The boat was still completely intact.

Maybe it was just that the Gazette link was posted here faster. Whatever. Here's PhuketWan's story.

[beach]

Have been working here on Phuket 22y ago in the diving industrie. When I look at the shape of Dive Asia 1 I,m wondering why at all it can float. It's too high, it takes a breeze and it rolls over. The safest dive boat in Phuket???? THis boat should have had never get the certification to sail. Anyhow, I'm very sorry that this has happend.

[Dap]

Sad for everyone involved. My sincere condolences to all the families and friends. RIP

[barry]

for me the only real issue is

CAN THIS BE PREVENTED IN THE FUTURE?

based on what I'm reading here, the answer is a resounding NO!

[caulfield2]

Why was a Japanese national (male) in the same quarters with the Thai cook (female)? Strange.

I guess, with the two shootings in the news and now this, you can just never know when live will be taken from you. But I'm not sure that ever stops us from the everyday acts that end up randomly in people dying...