Korean Tourist Threatens To Sue Pattaya City Over Boat Crash

[rostyv]

I think whether his leg could have been saved or not by a quicker response was the initial issue. With so many boats in the water, they should have more Coast Guard patrols and possibly mandatory communication equipment on all boats.

But, as things go in Thailand....it's probably the Russians' fault for hiring all the competent drivers and leaving all the leftovers for the Koreans. Sue the Russian embassy!!! (Or some other foreign nation. Would be definitely Russians in Phuket )

[TackyToo]

The Deputy Mayor thinks he can make an excuse to "clear up the misunderstanding".

Hey fool, the man lost his leg, that is pretty clear so what about doing something positive about it and seek compensation for him, check out the legality of the boat, its operators and the license of the driver, after which, assist the Korean woman. I thought also it was mandatory for 3rd party liability insurance now for operators?

Isn't losing a leg in Thailand always a case of misunderstanding???

[DeeMaiDee]

Yes this is going to get interesting, typical stalling and an eventual award of a few thousand baht will result in Koreans giving Thailand a wide berth.

[cnx355]

I wish them good luck ! Maybe one day the court will be able to function in an honorable and sppeedier way but at the moment I doubt it ! Money $$$ and race

still rule over here !

[rbrooks]

I am curious to see how this plays out. In the end it is obvious that Pattaya will dismiss the suit blaming perhaps the S. Korean tour operator, the weather, the boat, the fleeing boat captain etc. Thailand is above the law and criticism but there is always Saturday Night Live (SNL) comedy show to bring out the best in Thailand grabbing the Thai politician's attention enough to demand apologies from the show and the American embassy. Like Karma in Buddhism, what goes around comes back around to smack you in the face sooner or later. Give it some time and soon tourists will blacklist places like Phuket and Pattaya.

[Just1Voice]

In 3-5 years, I see Phuket & Pattaya, and a few other noted spots, as being "ghost towns", with the Thai stupidly asking themselves: "What happened?" What happened is they lost out to Myanmar.

Last year the goverment of Myanmar realized they have a serious increase in tourism, and a serious shortage of accomodations. Unlike Thailand and their "face" issues, not to mention their "superior race" attitude, the Myanmar gvt turned to a Dutch company and asked for help in the planning and construction of new hotels, and are working with other American and European companies on various other infrastructure projects. They know what needs to be done, and are doing it.

Now let's look at the few Thousand kilometers of undeveloped beach front property in the Bay of Bengal and the Adaman Sea. They start developing that, and can keep from making the same stupid mistakes of the Thai with the tuk-tuk and taxi mafia, and a few other things, such as two - three tierd pricing discrimination, they are going to be the knife in the heart of Phuket and Pattaya, and some others.

And you can bet the farm that the Thai, instead of cleaning up their act, will simply raise the prices of everthing to make up for the losses. lol

[Credo]

In all fairness, the boat operator should be paying for loss of leg, pain and suffering as well as loss of income.

Sadly though i doubt they had any insurance, in which case perhaps the boat can be sold off and money from sale given to the injured

The boat has been in a major accident. How much money do you think they will get for it?

[Basil B]

I would be curious to find out what exactly was the chain of events leading from the original accident to the loss of the leg. Clearly the Korean family feels that the post accident care was so poor that a lawsuit is justified. Was a body snatcher pickup truck waiting on the dock with nothing inside in terms of medical support ? Guess we will know later.

This seems a claim on what happened after the accident.

I would have thought there was more a case of "Gross Negligence" by officials who took money and buried their heads in the sand, I am sure they have not been able to shreaded all the warnings they have had about the unsafe boats at City Hall.

I hope they go for named officials instead of City Hall or it will be the tax payers who will front the bill instead of the corrupt and/or incompetent officials.

[lemoncake]

In all fairness, the boat operator should be paying for loss of leg, pain and suffering as well as loss of income.

Sadly though i doubt they had any insurance, in which case perhaps the boat can be sold off and money from sale given to the injured

The boat has been in a major accident. How much money do you think they will get for it?

much more than they will get from the city hall

[khaowong1]

Excuse me, but how do you name and shame in a country where they will sue you for naming and shaming them ?

[BWPattaya]

You can't drive a motor bike without insurance. I'm sure you can't drive a tour bus without insurance, so I'm fairly certain that there must be a law requiring speed boats carrying 18 tourists to have insurance.

Most of the speed boats launch from the same place down at Bali Hai every morning. It wouldn't take a big effort to send a team of council officials and police down there one morning to check for insurance. No insurance cert., no work. If they can check motorbikes they can check speedboats.

Actually one can ride a motorbik and drive a car etc without insurance, Many people do. You should have insurance and the law says you must have insurance but that doesn;t mean people have it.

[newermonkey]

"Mr Ronakit said the legal action stems from a misunderstanding as the victim’s wife believed that her husband’s leg could have been saved if he had been given medical treatment earlier. He made known that additional clarification of the incident would be given to the South Korean family in a bid to clear up the misunderstanding"

So the doctor who said directly to the Korean "we could have saved your leg if you had got here faster" has now changed his stance to: "After having a talk with Mr. Ronakit and his uniformed friends I have changed my mind and now, I am sure the leg was doomed from the start and the city authorities are perfect in every way".

[metisdead]

Trolling nonsense posts and replies have been removed.

Another off topic post containing a link to Bangkok Post has been removed as well:

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[lee b]

Please remember Thailand = No compensation !! No insuance !!

[GrantSmith]

Please remember Thailand = No compensation !! No insuance !!

Que?

[Ohio]

I had to double check it wasn't April 1st.

Me also

[dmroo]

How much money does Korea invest in Thailand?

No idea but S Korea is an industrialised nation probably not stupid enough to invest much in Thailand, USA and Europe is more their preference.

I worked there for a year and would put their standards on a par with Japan.

This accident claim, if arbitrarily dismissed by Thai authorities will cost dearly.

I am still working here in S Korea and I find the people very Intellectual people and also very forgiving under normal situations, so I wish them luck on there long coming adventures in this matter. As most say, Its a good thing.

Wishing them luck.

[brummiebob]

Tourism Authority should jumps on this case and pay him whatever he wants to make this go away, the longer this drags out, the more chance of damage to tourism her for sure.

Had this been a freak accident, the victims would probably be more understanding, but by now there would be many people that told him that this was an accident waiting to happen, and had happened quite frequently in the past years

[tolsti]

So you can report the Pattaya Municipality in a name and shame post but not a dodgy restaurant?

What about the fear of prosecution for defamation that you are always going on about?