Russian tourist cut in half by speedboat's propellers, another missing

Chon Buri - A Russian tourist was cut in half by propellers of a speedboat off Pattaya coast Monday afternoon, police said.

Police said two tourists were hit by propellers of a two-engine speedboat, Kantalak 409, near Koh Larn off Pattaya's coast in Bang Lamung district at 2 pm while the two were scuba diving at the spot.

One of them was cut in half and another went missing.

The two tourists have yet to be identified.

-- The Nation 2010-01-11

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Very sad.

Horrifying. Wonder if they were diving as part of an organised group and if the spot was marked?

OUCH!!! that sucks!

Very Sad indeed. Koh Lan have water lanes for speed boats to drop off their passengers on the beach due to past accidents and counter the possiblity of such an accident in future and its still happening. Looks like this may have happened outside these lanes in open water. Never-the-less very say for all.

wow thats bad... RIP

That is absolutely horrendous. And this just after they announced a water saving rescue squad from Bali Hai.

TheWalkingMan

Sad news to read, RIP!

I wonder how they know they were Russians but yet have to be identified?

On the Thai news, it says the guy was way beyond the prohibited area. Still no clarification whether there really is the prohibited area. :S

RIP

My biggest horror when swimming in areas with speedboats or jetskis.

As for diving, I am shocked that dive operators still do not advise their customers to use those inflatable "bananas" that mark resurfacing divers.

RIP

RIP. Don't want to sound out of place, however, Thailand seems to be Jinxed. To add to troubles, the reporting so inaccurate and out of context. Russian or not, two human lives lost tragically. Thailand does not need such news coming out.

On the bright side maybe the families will be offered 5,000 baht compensation

Maybe it was their speedboat....

Really very SAD.

Such a horrifying thing should not happen to anyone.

i hope related agencies will take some steps to avoid reoccurance.

my sincere Condolences.

Sad News!, Best thing we can do is "Stay out of oversized TOILET"... So Sad!!!!!!!!!

Sad news to read, RIP!

I wonder how they know they were Russians but yet have to be identified?

The Driver of the boat or a crew member, a travel agent, the list goes on. Someone probably asked them before they set off but it's not really important what country they're from.

Very sad.

But a group of us were out there last week. There were a large number of foreigners there. However many of them insisted in swimming in the area designated for jet ski or speed boats. There were a number of near misses. The owner of the hotel there on several occassions tried to explain where people should swim but he was ignored.

begs

Nothing changes, everything stays the same. We'll be here in 10, 20 or even 30 years and the same crap will still be happening whilst people's pockets are lined.

So sad, could be anyone really.

Yet another tragic accident at sea.

Condolences to the friends and family of the deceased.

My biggest horror when swimming in areas with speedboats or jetskis.

As for diving, I am shocked that dive operators still do not advise their customers to use those inflatable "bananas" that mark resurfacing divers.

RIP

I got told that it was seen often in Pattaya that these scooters used the "safety sausages" from the surfacing divers for slalom driving.....

Very sad.

But a group of us were out there last week. There were a large number of foreigners there. However many of them insisted in swimming in the area designated for jet ski or speed boats. There were a number of near misses. The owner of the hotel there on several occassions tried to explain where people should swim but he was ignored.

begs

So there was area designated. People need to learn to respect that if they want to be safe.

1758 users on this topic @16.02, 11-01-10.

Shows the nature of the horrible news.

When do we ever get good news from Pattaya, well, not counting the ones that tell us that a criminal has been captured.

I stopped diving in Pattaya because of the close calls i had had with speedboats etc. One time at Kohlarn the owner of the diveshop told another boat to be careful there were divers down there. And the reply was do you own the water. After the japanese girl was killed a few years ago by speedboat something was supposed to be done about this. Obviously not enough has been done if anything and more innocent people are dead. There is a boat sinking or capsizing in Pattaya almost every week aswell and the captains usually do a runner, the authorities need to really do something this time. I certainly hope so for the good of Pattaya.

My biggest horror when swimming in areas with speedboats or jetskis.

As for diving, I am shocked that dive operators still do not advise their customers to use those inflatable "bananas" that mark resurfacing divers.

RIP

It should be normal practice to deploy a Surface Marker Buoy if anywhere near boat traffic.

But how do they know they were Russians as they are not identified yet...?

My biggest horror when swimming in areas with speedboats or jetskis.

As for diving, I am shocked that dive operators still do not advise their customers to use those inflatable "bananas" that mark resurfacing divers.

RIP

When you use the bananas jetskis use them to spin round adding to the danger. Diving round pattaya is dangerous because of the speedboats and jetskis its as simple as that. They arent the first and wont be the last, garaunteed.

How many water accidents (and deaths) does it take for the city authorities to realize that it is time to enforce rules with the blokes who run these boats, jet skis and such?

this is grim. tourist nationality is irrelevant.

A sad story, but not one that shocks me. The speed boats here do zip around with little regard to safety.

My biggest horror when swimming in areas with speedboats or jetskis.

As for diving, I am shocked that dive operators still do not advise their customers to use those inflatable "bananas" that mark resurfacing divers.

RIP

One thing I have learned is ALWAYS use a safety sausage (inlatable orange tube with a 5 meter line on it for the non-divers here) as the Thai boat operators NEVER watch for divers below, or they simply don't care. Their off water driving habits are the same on the water.

Reference you comment raro, almost all the diving is guided in Thailand, and the guide or instructor should always have a sausage, but sometimes divers want to dive by themselves, and if they are experienced and have a sausage I would sometimes let them, but that is rare. One wonders if they were with a guide or by themselves. I have on many occasion had long tails go directly over my and my students/customers heads, clearing by a couple meters. At least they will stay a little bit away from the sausage as they wouldn't want to have to get the line wapped up in the propeller.

On the Thai news, it says the guy was way beyond the prohibited area. Still no clarification whether there really is the prohibited area. :S

RIP

Yeah, I would like to know what is a prohibited area as well. I never heard of such a thing in Thailand before.