Russian Tourist Cut In Half By Speedboat's Propellers, Another Missing

[JulesMad]

Very sad and hard to understand!!!

1. Good divers use a SMB (Surface Marker Buoy)

2. If they were diving with a reputable dive company, they are registered with name and details. How do we know they are Russian, but yet un-identified? Strange....

3. Russian divers are NOT well known for their security mindset and listening to advice from experienced dive-professionals.

4. Speedboats (and longtails) are one of the greatest dangers to divers in Thailand, especially with Thai drivers. I know cases that they AIM for SMBs. But you know how it goes: they are Thai and you are just a farang!

Again, it can happen to anyone! So sad for these 2 guys and their families!

[YORKSHIREPUD]

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

As an old PADI scuba diver instructor,we always used the BRIGHT ORANGE ELEPHANT CONDOM, sent up from 5 metres at the safety stop but if they were diving unsupervised and with little experience?

Who knows, even using the condom, I had some narrow escapes with jet ski's, they just don't give a shit or have no idea what a SUPER BRIGHT CONDOM 1 METRE ABOVE SEA LEVEL STANDS FOR.

RIP and condolences to the family

Typical of Thailand, who gives a <deleted> as long as I'm earning a few Baht

[raro]

as it is pretty much established that the accident victim was not SCUBA diving but snorkeling, it is also clear that they would not have had under any circumstances an SMB on them.

off topic, but I was diving several times off Pattaya and never had any SMB on me. We were diving always in remote areas without any speedboat traffic, though.

The lesson learned is that snorkeling (which makes you more or less invisible) is not advisable in designated speed boat lanes and vice versa speed boats and jet ski pilots should exercise utmost care when driving through designated swimming zones or near the shore.

[Phuquephace]

Lousy timing - wrong place, wrong time. RIP

[maenam]

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

that's good news.

[btunes]

Perhaps a mafia style "hit"? (no pun intended)

[BlackJack]

my condo overlooks Jomtien beach

i see swimmers

i see jet skis

i see banana boats towed by speed boats

i see speed boats picking up people for day trips

i see another accident waiting to happen

[Basil B]

great idea AleG, but I see two problems:

1. That the idiots on jetski's will just start poking at it to see if it is real.
   
2. The Thai Navy think it is real and decide to dispose of it from a safe distance with a 100mm live round.
   

Edited January 13, 2010 by Basil B

[scubajo]

With my experience as a diving instructor, I have noticed that Russian divers tend to be very good at listening to instruction, but terrible at actually following them, I am assuming that counts for (most) non-diving Russians as well.. When I was looking for a new place to work, my friends, both Thai and Farang, recommended me to avoid diving at Pattaya at all cost because of the speedboats and jetskis..

As for dive-safety, my SMB (safety sausage) is orange and has "diver below" written on it, maybe the dive industry should develop a SMB with a warning written in Thai?

RIP and all the best to the family

[asean]

Very sad.

I woud like to know if the "killer" stays in jail or if they let him go already?

Only a long jailtime will teach him, the other "pilots" and the owners of such boats to respect life.

Come on, the killed man was swimming, probably snorkeling and possibly free diving in a boat corridor. It would had been nice it the boat driver would had seen him, but the bulk of the blame lies on the dead man.

Somrak those are very strong words for a man doing his job to feed his family in one of the most demanding boating environments. I assume you may have not spent much time if any as an offshore commercial tourist boat driver. In many western countries he would be completely blameless in this incident. The driver also has my sympathy as, killing someone unintentionally will have a traumatic effect on him and his family and not just because they are buddhist. It is surprising that you have already branded him a "killer" and demanding a long jail term.

[phuketchap]

i dont know about you guys but since high season started back in dec 09 it seems to me that the number of tragic accidents and incidents have been very frequent. alarmingly frequent....

[koheesti]

i dont know about you guys but since high season started back in dec 09 it seems to me that the number of tragic accidents and incidents have been very frequent. alarmingly frequent....

I've noticed the same thing. I was going to start a thread but figured it would be removed if one thread listed 15-20 of these tragedies just from the past 3-4 weeks. Can't make the place look too dangerous.

[h90]

With my experience as a diving instructor, I have noticed that Russian divers tend to be very good at listening to instruction, but terrible at actually following them, I am assuming that counts for (most) non-diving Russians as well.. When I was looking for a new place to work, my friends, both Thai and Farang, recommended me to avoid diving at Pattaya at all cost because of the speedboats and jetskis..

As for dive-safety, my SMB (safety sausage) is orange and has "diver below" written on it, maybe the dive industry should develop a SMB with a warning written in Thai?

RIP and all the best to the family

You are right! Anyway Pattaya is not nice. the wracks are good for teaching but else it is just the toilet from Pattaya. We dove once away from the main places close to Koh Larn (I think) and it was full....really it was full of empty beer bottles. I wonder why no one made a business out of it.......more glass than corals and fish together.

[h90]

i dont know about you guys but since high season started back in dec 09 it seems to me that the number of tragic accidents and incidents have been very frequent. alarmingly frequent....

I've noticed the same thing. I was going to start a thread but figured it would be removed if one thread listed 15-20 of these tragedies just from the past 3-4 weeks. Can't make the place look too dangerous.

how many? do you have any details???

[koheesti]

i dont know about you guys but since high season started back in dec 09 it seems to me that the number of tragic accidents and incidents have been very frequent. alarmingly frequent....

I've noticed the same thing. I was going to start a thread but figured it would be removed if one thread listed 15-20 of these tragedies just from the past 3-4 weeks. Can't make the place look too dangerous.

how many? do you have any details???

If you read TV every day, you can't miss all the deaths that occur around here.

[on-on]

If you read TV every day, you can't miss all the deaths that occur around here.

A good chunk of ThaiVisa is basically, "Did you hear about this unfortunate thing that happened to a FOREIGNER!?" Just reading TV you'd think Thailand's one of the least dangerous places in the world. 60,000,000 people and only a few die every year, all foreign!

[asean]

i dont know about you guys but since high season started back in dec 09 it seems to me that the number of tragic accidents and incidents have been very frequent. alarmingly frequent....

I've noticed the same thing. I was going to start a thread but figured it would be removed if one thread listed 15-20 of these tragedies just from the past 3-4 weeks. Can't make the place look too dangerous.

how many? do you have any details???

If you read TV every day, you can't miss all the deaths that occur around here.

Um.... yes that would be correct. High season = more people= more inexperieced people on boats, jetskis, skis, motorcycles, snorkling = more accidents (tragedies) = more deaths.

I could be talking about Aspen, Vale, Cancun, surfers paradise, tahiti, greek isles, majorca, Rio, Miami, Spain, French Riviera, Gatlenberg Tenessee, oh and pattaya.

Gentle need we all be so insular?

[KhunTina]

Due to internet problems in Thailand, I just saw this update.

What surprises me about this story is that I haven't read too many like it, many times already. The idiotic speedboat operators around Phuket have been seriously lucky not to have killed people on a monthly basis, the way they race at stupid speeds over snorkellers and divers, particularly at Racha Yai. We have been horrified several times, also watching divers getting into distress because they were left in the water waiting for a pick up for so long. Very few of the divers are marked, so careless, arrogant, stupid speedboat drivers have even less cause to show care in bays.

Their behaviour in many ways is some of the worst I've seen of any industry in Thailand. Forget the tuk tuk and taxi mafia!