Samui Boat Accident

[mr_lob]

come down here to krabi and say that in front of my thai and farang friends who own businesses who are more than ever relying on the tourists to survive...you would'nt last long.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

....then do you know much at all about Thailand yourself?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You obviously don't.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

please, my learned friend, enlighten me as to why?

[stumonster]

Thai speedboat toll rises to 15

From correspondents in Bangkok

January 27, 2005

THE death toll from a Thai speedboat accident involving dozens of tourists leaving an all-night "full moon" beach party rose to 15 today after rescue workers pulled seven more bodies out of the sea.

Six of the latest victims found appear to be foreign tourists, officials said.

"We found two bodies in the sea last night and five more this morning," an official at the state hospital on the south-eastern resort island of Koh Samui, which compiled casualties data and stored retrieved corpses, told Reuters.

As many as nine others, including a Thai, a German, an Australian and two Britons, were still missing, she said.

The speedboat capsized at dawn on Tuesday, shortly before it reached Samui from the jungle-clad island of Pa Ngan, where thousands of backpackers and Thais gather every full moon for an all-night drug and alcohol-fuelled beach party.

The accident deals another blow to Thailand's efforts to lure back tourists after the December 26 Indian Ocean tsunami that slammed into the country's western shores, killing thousands.

Of the 15 bodies retrieved so far, ten have been identified as two Americans, an Australian, a Briton, a Swiss and five Thais.

Two of the bodies are unidentified Westerners, the official said, and the remaining three are thought to be an American, a Briton and a Thai.

The boat's 26-year-old driver, who disappeared immediately after the tragedy, surrendered to police yesterday, claiming his innocence and blaming mechanical failure.

The driver, Samran Ruangruang, faces manslaughter and negligence charges carrying a fine of up to 20,000 baht ($6458) or 10 years in jail.

Samui and other popular palm-fringed islands off Thailand's east coast, which served as the inspiration for cult backpacker novel and 2000 Hollywood movie The Beach, were not affected by the tsunami.

[sriracha john]

Just to advice everyone not to go to any beaches in South Thailand for about 6 month or more..Becaus ethere are still alot of Lost spirits and souls out there...Just read the local thai newspapers theres alot of stories about some1 seeing sprit at night

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

oh you really are a great use are'nt you? come down here to krabi and say that in front of my thai and farang friends who own businesses who are more than ever relying on the tourists to survive...you would'nt last long. keep those sort of ridiculous, thoughtless comments to yourself.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

please curb your Western aggressiveness long enough to read Posts #9 and #10 of this thread.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

not aggressiveness, more frustration at ignorant wastes of space. i know about Thais and how they are with 'pee' (ghosts) having lived here over 2 years. Jeez, i spent a few days at Wat Yan Yao, Takuapa moving corpses - i believe in spirits too, but advising people to stay away for 6 MONTHS?!?! utterly outrageous.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Discounting someone's beliefs as "ignorant wastes of space".... and inciting bodily harm on someone as they "wouldn't last long".... sounds fairly aggressive to me. If you truly "know" about Thais... you wouldn't post such thoughts in such an unempathetic tone.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

erm...did i mention ANYTHING about bodily harm??? No. Let me guess....your an english teacher (ST). If you agree with this person about people staying away from the southern beaches for 6 months + ....then do you know much at all about Thailand yourself?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

sorry, I guess you must have meant that he wouldn't last long at the canasta card game you and your friends would have invited him to. Sorry for misreading your words.

[stumonster]

sorry, I guess you must have meant that he wouldn't last long at the canasta card game you and your friends would have invited him to. Sorry for misreading your words.

I dunno john

it sounded like macho posturing by some w4nker to me!

[tuky]

erm...did i mention ANYTHING about bodily harm??? No. Let me guess....your an english teacher (ST). If you agree with this person about people staying away from the southern beaches for 6 months + ....then do you know much at all about Thailand yourself?

No body is advocating that people should stay away from the area in question except for tytus whom is a Thai national and from what I have seen around is only echoing the thoughts of many Thais who are not reliant on tourism to make their living.

I think I can speak for all when I say we all want tourism to resume as normal.

However what we are saying is to lighten up on the guy as he is only reacting to this as he has been programmed by his society, and as I have said before there are many Thais who feel the same way.

So please re-read all that was said so you can understand that we are only standing up for a nations spiritual belief, we are not telling people to stay away.

[mr_lob]

erm...did i mention ANYTHING about bodily harm??? No. Let me guess....your an english teacher (ST). If you agree with this person about people staying away from the southern beaches for 6 months + ....then do you know much at all about Thailand yourself?

No body is advocating that people should stay away from the area in question except for tytus whom is a Thai national and from what I have seen around is only echoing the thoughts of many Thais who are not reliant on tourism to make their living.

I think I can speak for all when I say we all want tourism to resume as normal.

However what we are saying is to lighten up on the guy as he is only reacting to this as he has been programmed by his society, and as I have said before there are many Thais who feel the same way.

So please re-read all that was said so you can understand that we are only standing up for a nations spiritual belief, we are not telling people to stay away.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

KK - understood...but i have not heard any Thais down here say anything like it - there are still people living their lives on Phi Phi and inland areas of Khao Lak. Sure, they do fear the ghosts, but the friends i have here who had businesses on Phi-Phi said they would open tomorrow if the tourists were back, regardless of 'pee'.

If the same were to be said for people that die on the roads in LOS every year, no-one would drive for fear of 'pee'. I really respect the people down here who are trying their utmost to get on with their lives and not dwell too much on the dreadful events of Dec 26th.

[tuky]

it must be hard mr_lob, and my heart goes out to them, as does everyone here I am sure. if I was a praying man my prayers would be with them for sure. If I was single man so would my money!!!

Thanks for a great discussion.

[cobra]

koh samui is swarming with the buggers , they keep you awake all night with their "whooooo"..ing  and its no use shutting the windows , they just come straight through the bloody walls.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

... yes, that incessant wooooo..ing, I hate it when they do that,

and just when I got rid of the Lepercons ...

[udon]

koh samui is swarming with the buggers , they keep you awake all night with their "whooooo"..ing  and its no use shutting the windows , they just come straight through the bloody walls.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

... yes, that incessant wooooo..ing, I hate it when they do that,

and just when I got rid of the Lepercons ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I traced the wooooo..ing to the 14 soi dogs collected by the stupid old bird next door.

Once I threw some chilli impregnated meat over the fence at 0300, it vanished and my visitors could sleep.

No more Phi Phi.

[sriracha john]

and just when I got rid of the Lepercons ... 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are those Leprechans with Hansen's Disease???

feel free to look up any of those words

[joebuzzard]

GENERAL NEWS - Friday 28 January 2005

Speedboat death toll rises to 14

Owner affirms victims insured; faces charges

SUPAPONG CHAOLAEN

Surat Thani _ The confirmed death toll when a packed speedboat capsized on its way back from a full-moon party rose to 14 as four more bodies were recovered off Koh Samui island yesterday.

Two others, an Australian national and an unidentified foreign man, were still missing.

The four new bodies were identified as Jessica Crystal Powell, 30, an American; Nongnuch Boonsong, 24, a Thai woman from Taling Chan in Bangkok; Constantin Jean Meac, 52, Swiss; and Sarah Lewis, a British national.

Samui district chief Thirayuth Iamtrakul said nine of the confirmed dead were foreigners and the other five Thai.

As of yesterday, only two people were still missing: Faheem Vighani Bhuiyan, 24, from Australia, and a foreign man who was identified only as Asso.

The parents of Bhuiyan arrived on Koh Samui yesterday and were briefed by Surat Thani governor Vijit Vichaisarn. They collapsed in tears on learning their son was still missing. The couple later saw the body of their son's friend, Nathan Christopher, 23, who accompanied him to Koh Samui and Koh Phangan.

Pol Lt-Col Chakkrit Pornchayanont, deputy police chief on Koh Samui, said passengers who survived the accident had said the boat carried 40-50 passengers from a full-moon party on Koh Phangan and was going very fast. The boat's legal carrying capacity was 32, he said.

The boat owner, Somsawat Suksom, would be charged in a few days, pending an investigation into the cause of a snap-ped hydraulic steering cable. The boat was modified illegally with an additional engine to boost its speed above the authorised limit. It was suspected the extra engine caused a malfunction in the steering system, sending the boat out of control.

A speedboat mechanic said the launch must have been going too fast to have almost reached Koh Samui only a quarter of an hour after leaving Koh Phangan.

Mr Somsawat, the owner of Sea Breeze Internet and Tour Co, yesterday apologised for the accident and promised to accept responsibility.

- Bangkok Post

[joebuzzard]

GENERAL NEWS - Friday 28 January 2005

POSTBAG

Turn up the lights on full moon parties

The Samui speedboat accident has focused considerable negative and embarrassing international attention on Thailand at the worst possible time as it attempts to resurrect its post-tsunami tourism fortunes.

Instead of concentrating their investigations and the apportioning of blame upon the speedboat operators, it would perhaps serve the authorities to also take a hard look at the substantial contribution to the accident made by the full moon beach party scene that set up shop on Koh Phangan after being literally bulldozed off Koh Chang several years ago.

What has emerged so far is that the boat was overcrowded, no one was wearing life jackets and, most relevantly, a large number of those on board were drunk and/or stoned out of their heads, including the boat driver.

Curiously, the existence of these all-night alcohol- and drug-fuelled parties does not appear to have come as a surprise to anyone, including such eminent local authorities as Interior Minister Pokin Polakul and Surat Thani Governor Vichit Vichaisan. And equally curiously in the aftermath of the accident, no police drug squads _ of the kind which routinely swoop on Bangkok city pubs and nightclubs to drug test revellers _ were dispatched to hospitals in Samui or to Koh Phangan to undertake a similar operation there.

How, one wonders, does the known existence of these parties square with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's nationwide war on drugs and his government's tough policy and measures to stamp out the drug trade?

This question seems particularly appropriate given the announcement this week of the establishment of an intelligence dragnet designed to help prevent illegal drugs returning to plague Thai society.

Can it be presumed that this dragnet will also include Koh Phangan, or is it a case of the authorities turning a blind eye to the foreign drug fraternity as they have done for years on the basis that it brings in lots of tourist revenue, so long as it all remains "Unseen in Thailand"?

Well, as it's not unseen anymore, perhaps it is to be hoped that in the wake of this unfortunate incident the government will be persuaded that this is another area of illegal tourism-related activity that needs to be addressed.

BEACHCOMBER

Speedboat service loses passengers

We have just heard the news of the accident involving the Phangan to Koh Samui speedboat.

We were on this same boat last Dec 1 when we had a big argument with the driver and crew members because they crammed at least 50 passengers and all their luggage on to the boat. The majority of people were standing or sitting on piled up luggage or on the floor; some were on the foredeck. The crew dismissed our claims that they were extremely overloaded and unlikely to be insured for the amount of passengers they were carrying.

It was a choppy crossing, especially as we went from mid-channel into the river, but thankfully we did arrive safely.

It was all too easy to see how very dangerous it could be, so we count ourselves very fortunate _ and would not risk it again.

WENDY AND KEITH SHAW

Devon, England

- Bangkok Post

[sbk]

GENERAL NEWS - Friday 28 January 2005

POSTBAG

Instead of concentrating their investigations and the apportioning of blame upon the speedboat operators, it would perhaps serve the authorities to also take a hard look at the substantial contribution to the accident made by the full moon beach party scene that set up shop on Koh Phangan after being literally bulldozed off Koh Chang several years ago.

BEACHCOMBER

I have never heard of a Full moon party on Koh Chang and it certainly didn't move to Koh Phangan from Koh Chang as it has been running continuously, every month, for over 15 years on Koh Phangan.

And, interestingly enough, these speed boats have been running every month for at least 7 or 8 years and this is the first such accident so I am not sure how you could say the party had a "substantial contribution" since this has obviously been going on for years

Speedboat service loses passengers

We have just heard the news of the accident involving the Phangan to Koh Samui speedboat.

We were on this same boat last Dec 1 when we had a big argument with the driver and crew members because they crammed at least 50 passengers and all their luggage on to the boat. The majority of people were standing or sitting on piled up luggage or on the floor; some were on the foredeck. The crew dismissed our claims that they were extremely overloaded and unlikely to be insured for the amount of passengers they were carrying.

It was a choppy crossing, especially as we went from mid-channel into the river, but thankfully we did arrive safely.

Sorry, but there is no river between Koh Phangan and Koh Samui. I suspect these people are confusing the speedboats with the Songserm Express Boat which did actually sink about 14 years ago resulting in several fatalities. Amazingly enough, the Songserm boat that sank was pulled up, repaired and is still in use. And Songserm continues to overcrowd their boats.

It was all too easy to see how very dangerous it could be, so we count ourselves very fortunate _ and would not risk it again.

WENDY AND KEITH SHAW

Devon, England

- Bangkok Post

I am not a huge fan of the FMP party as when I first came to this lovely island it had just started and was a very small affair on the beach at Haadrin. I have watched not only the party grow to the tremendous size it is now (high season estimates of the crowd at 35,000) but also spawn numerous copycat parties; the black moon party, the half moon party and even a shiva moon party (whatever the heck that is). These parties obscure the natural beauty the island has to offer and encourages people only to come here to party, ignoring the other appeals the island has; unspoiled interior jungle (unlike Koh Samui which has cut down all its forest), good snorkelling and diving, and nice beaches.

It bothers me that people hear Koh Phangan and think that the Full Moon Party is the only thing of worth this island has to offer.

But it bothers me even more the huge amounts of money these boat operators have made over the years and still it's not enough, they must pack in more people, make more trips all at the cost of safety and, ultimately, people's lives. The sheer greed exhibited by people at the cost of others lives sickens me.

Edited January 28, 2005 by sbk

[eljeque]

The sheer greed exhibited by people at the cost of others lives sickens me.

Welcome to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, The Philippines, Indonesia, ....

[sbk]

The sheer greed exhibited by people at the cost of others lives sickens me.

    Welcome to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, The Philippines, Indonesia, ....

And the US, UK, France, Germany, etc etc. Unfortunately greed at the cost of others is an undeniably universal human trait

[Noodles]

GENERAL NEWS - Friday 28 January 2005

POSTBAG

Instead of concentrating their investigations and the apportioning of blame upon the speedboat operators, it would perhaps serve the authorities to also take a hard look at the substantial contribution to the accident made by the full moon beach party scene that set up shop on Koh Phangan after being literally bulldozed off Koh Chang several years ago.

BEACHCOMBER

I have never heard of a Full moon party on Koh Chang and it certainly didn't move to Koh Phangan from Koh Chang as it has been running continuously, every month, for over 15 years on Koh Phangan.

And, interestingly enough, these speed boats have been running every month for at least 7 or 8 years and this is the first such accident so I am not sure how you could say the party had a "substantial contribution" since this has obviously been going on for years

Speedboat service loses passengers

We have just heard the news of the accident involving the Phangan to Koh Samui speedboat.

We were on this same boat last Dec 1 when we had a big argument with the driver and crew members because they crammed at least 50 passengers and all their luggage on to the boat. The majority of people were standing or sitting on piled up luggage or on the floor; some were on the foredeck. The crew dismissed our claims that they were extremely overloaded and unlikely to be insured for the amount of passengers they were carrying.

It was a choppy crossing, especially as we went from mid-channel into the river, but thankfully we did arrive safely.

Sorry, but there is no river between Koh Phangan and Koh Samui. I suspect these people are confusing the speedboats with the Songserm Express Boat which did actually sink about 14 years ago resulting in several fatalities. Amazingly enough, the Songserm boat that sank was pulled up, repaired and is still in use. And Songserm continues to overcrowd their boats.

It was all too easy to see how very dangerous it could be, so we count ourselves very fortunate _ and would not risk it again.

WENDY AND KEITH SHAW

Devon, England

- Bangkok Post

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am not a huge fan of the FMP party as when I first came to this lovely island it had just started and was a very small affair on the beach at Haadrin. I have watched not only the party grow to the tremendous size it is now (high season estimates of the crowd at 35,000) but also spawn numerous copycat parties; the black moon party, the half moon party and even a shiva moon party (whatever the heck that is). These parties obscure the natural beauty the island has to offer and encourages people only to come here to party, ignoring the other appeals the island has; unspoiled interior jungle (unlike Koh Samui which has cut down all its forest), good snorkelling and diving, and nice beaches.

It bothers me that people hear Koh Phangan and think that the Full Moon Party is the only thing of worth this island has to offer.

But it bothers me even more the huge amounts of money these boat operators have made over the years and still it's not enough, they must pack in more people, make more trips all at the cost of safety and, ultimately, people's lives. The sheer greed exhibited by people at the cost of others lives sickens me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with you SBK....I also think that if Thailand wants to attract all these

rich foreign tourists and me a 'major player' in the world, as Mr Thanksin says,

then alot of things including health and safety need to be adressed.

Noodles

[Erwin1011]

The sheer greed exhibited by people at the cost of others lives sickens me.

    Welcome to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, The Philippines, Indonesia, ....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And the US, UK, France, Germany, etc etc. Unfortunately greed at the cost of others is an undeniably universal human trait

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Welcome to the place called Earth, visitor.

[sriracha john]

Never fear, the government is to the rescue and with these measures, it will ensure a safe journey for all:

Life vests to be mandatory on boats

Published on February 02, 2005

In the wake of a recent fatal accident off Koh Samui, the Interior Ministry will issue new laws requiring passengers to wear life vests aboard boats and have their photo taken as a record before boarding vessels.

“The Interior Ministry is going to regulate boat-safety practice,” Government Spokesman Jakrapob Penkair said yesterday.

New regulations require that all passengers be issued life vests upon boarding vessels and that their photos be taken as a record in case of an accident during which passengers go missing, he explained.

“Before boats leave piers, an official must check to ensure that the boats are not overloaded and that all passengers have their life vests on,” he said. Piers will also be required to maintain separate entry and exit lanes for embarking and disembarking passengers, he added.

He said boat operators would be encouraged to form an association with a view to helping one another introduce better safety standards industry-wide.

An overloaded passenger boat off Koh Samui capsized late last month, killing 15 people on board and injuring eight others. The high number of casualties was attributed to a complete lack of life vests aboard the commercial vessel. Both the boat’s operator and its driver are facing prosecution for manslaughter through negligence, he said.

Jakrapob added that an insurance firm would pay Bt5,000 in funeral assistance and as much as Bt250,000 in compensation to the families of each passenger who died in the accident. Injured passengers in turn are set to receive a maximum of Bt15,000 as well as reimbursement for medical bills, not exceeding Bt100,000 a person.

[sbk]

Well, at least the amounts have been upped since the Songserm accident. My husband's uncle died and his family was only offered 50,000 baht. Never mind the pilot was drunk and the boat had no life jackets. Good to see the story remains the same tho. Continuity.

[Kan Win]

The Boat in question.

Sorry to hear that sbk.

R.I.P.

Yours truly

Kan Win