Phuket yacht erupts into fireball, casualties unknown

The fire prevented rescue personnel from boarding the boat.

Police have yet to determine whether anyone was on board. Photo: Yodsak Jarana

PHUKET: A 40-foot catamaran anchored in Chalong Bay, off Phuket’s west coast, burst into flames at about 10pm last night.

Three explosions were heard while the fire engulfed the boat, which sank about two hours later.

Police have yet to determine whether anyone was on board.

Chalong Police Duty Officer Boonlert Onklang reported witnesses saying that the fire broke out at one end of the yacht before spreading very quickly to the center of the boat.

Emergency rescue officers from the Tourist Rescue Center at Chalong Pier arrived alongside the burning vessel but could not board the boat to fight the fire as flames erupted from the hull, he said.

“Officers tried to put out the blaze with chemical fire extinguishers, but were not successful due to the strong wind,” he said.

“They could not board the boat. They fought the fire the best they could from alongside, but in the end the fire engulfed the boat and it sank after about two hours,” Lt Col Boonlert added.

“From our initial examination, it seems nobody was on deck, but we have yet to determine whether anyone was below deck as no one has come forward to claim being the owner of the boat,” Lt Col Boonlert said.

The boat was anchored in Chalong Bay for “many days” before the fire last night, he added.

As no one has come forward to identify the boat or its owner, Chalong police believe the boat belonged to a foreign tourist visiting Phuket, he said..

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-05-15

PHUKET: A 40-foot catamaran anchored in Chalong Bay, off Phuket’s west coast

Where does the sun come up again?

I am not surprised that the gazette does not know west from east from the dealing i have had with some of their farang workers.

Phuket's fireball yacht probe hits the doldrums

PHUKET: -- The police investigation into whether or not any people were trapped inside a 40-foot yacht that burst into flames and sank last Saturday has stalled.

Chalong Police Duty Officer Boonlert Onklang told the Phuket Gazette on Wednesday that no person had claimed ownership of the yacht, which was identified by a witness to the fire as Karni.

“I checked with Phuket Immigration and the Marine Office [where all arriving yachts must check-in], but they had no information about who the owner is,” Lt Col Boonlert said.

He suspected the owner is a foreigner visiting Phuket as the boat was anchored in Chalong Bay for “many days” before the fire.

“As no one has been reported dead or injured from the fire, we cannot proceed with further action until someone claims to be the yacht’s owner,” he said.

“And we have yet to determine the cause of the fire,” he added.

Lt Col Rittee Paopan of the Phuket Marine Police said, “We received no reports of anyone being injured by the fire, so this case falls under the area of responsibility of Chalong Police.

“The yacht sank in shallow water and is only two kilometers offshore, but we cannot dive to inspect the wreck until we receive a request from Chalong Police,” he added.

The fire was first reported at about 10pm. Three explosions were heard as fire engulfed the vessel, which sank about two hours later.

Emergency rescue officers from the Tourist Rescue Center at Chalong Pier arrived alongside the burning vessel, but could not board to fight the fire as flames erupted from the hull, reported Lt Col Boonlert.

“Officers tried to put out the blaze with chemical fire extinguishers, but were not successful due to the strong wind,” he said.

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-05-21

Perhaps the owner of the boat has not come forward as they were on board at the time of the fire.

Can I assume that now the boat has sank the fire is out and why don't the police send some divers down to see what they can find.

Wait a second, there could be a couple of reasons for that not happening already, it requires effort or maybe someone doesn't want anyone to find anything.

“As no one has been reported dead or injured from the fire, we cannot proceed with further action until someone claims to be the yacht’s owner,” he said.

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-05-21

Yeah, right.

Maybe something or someone on board that nobody wants to hear about too quickly........wonder where that Irish writer is these days ??

It's not hard to find details about the yachts owners on google:

http://www.7knots.com/cgi-bin/list_boat.pl?view=2018

http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-215602-international-travel-warm-waters-wonderful-world-working-crew

If the Yacht is the Karni the police could always talk to the owners at their business address in Patong:

The owner of the Karni is an acquaintance of mine and he says that they are all fine - in fact I'm not even sure that it was the Karni that went up in flames after having spoken with him

Simon

Karni is listed as a 47' monohull; the news article says the boat that sank was a 40' catamaran.

The owner of the Karni is an acquaintance of mine and he says that they are all fine - in fact I'm not even sure that it was the Karni that went up in flames after having spoken with him

Simon

You spoke to them Simon, but you're still not sure if it was their boat? Don't they know?

I mean that it was only reported to be the Karni. I have now spoken with the owners who were not on board at the time, and who believe it was an accidental fire. Apparently, (despite the spectacular flames), the boat was not badly damaged, and did not sink.

Anyway, that is the message that I received from the owners. Case closed, move along, nothing more to see blah blah blah

Simon

Still plenty of questions.

Excellent reporting.

If only we could have had a photograph of the police pointing at burnt glob and saying it was most likely the body of a deceased foreigner that had been hit by a fireball from the heavens as the event coincided with the apocalypse.

Excellent reporting.

If only we could have had a photograph of the police pointing at burnt glob and saying it was most likely the body of a deceased foreigner that had been hit by a fireball from the heavens as the event coincided with the apocalypse.

no, no, clear case of suicide

I mean that it was only reported to be the Karni. I have now spoken with the owners who were not on board at the time, and who believe it was an accidental fire. Apparently, (despite the spectacular flames), the boat was not badly damaged, and did not sink.

Anyway, that is the message that I received from the owners. Case closed, move along, nothing more to see blah blah blah

Simon

????

Don't bother ???? at me - I'm just the messenger

Simon

So did anyone ever find out who owned the boat, whether it sank or did not sink, whether the marine police or the Chalong Police investigated.

This all sounds so fishy to me - a boat just going up in flames after being moored for days. Doesn't Pol. Lt. Col. Boonlert know or is he too busy

giving evidence to the police and senate committees on how he didn't get any money form the 700,000 baht fee a lawyer claims was all for him plus a 'foreigner handling fee'

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/view-story.php?sid=449

http://www.thephuketnews.com/news-local-cop-cleared-in-extortion-case-27782.php

Oh wait he has just been cleared of doing any wrong - what a surprise.

Sorry Chalong police are becoming a joke - or would be if it wasn't so serious. Why is Boonlert's name turning up everywhere?

So did anyone ever find out who owned the boat, whether it sank or did not sink, whether the marine police or the Chalong Police investigated.

This all sounds so fishy to me - a boat just going up in flames after being moored for days. Doesn't Pol. Lt. Col. Boonlert know or is he too busy

giving evidence to the police and senate committees on how he didn't get any money form the 700,000 baht fee a lawyer claims was all for him plus a 'foreigner handling fee'

http://www.andrew-dr...ory.php?sid=449

http://www.thephuket...-case-27782.php

Oh wait he has just been cleared of doing any wrong - what a surprise.

Sorry Chalong police are becoming a joke - or would be if it wasn't so serious. Why is Boonlert's name turning up everywhere?

Good one! I wish you the best of luck with this.

PHUKET: A 40-foot catamaran anchored in Chalong Bay, off Phuket's west coast

Where does the sun come up again?

The sun came up on Chalong Bayh, again!