All safe after dramatic dive boat sinking near Phuket [video]

[webfact]

All safe after dramatic dive boat sinking near Phuket

The Phuket News

video link: http://www.thephuketnews.com/all-safe-after-dramatic-sinking-near-phuket-video-44319.php

(Footage of the sinking follows advertisements)

PHUKET: -- Swedish daily newspaper Aftonbladet has published video of a the dramatic sinking yesterday (January 29) of a dive boat near Koh Tachai.

Luckily, the Phuket-based dive boat Peter Pan was close by to rescue all on board the Ranong-based Aladdin, which began to take on water at around noon, sinking so fast that passengers had to leap for their lives, many of them having no time to put on life jackets.

Aftonbladet quoted Swedish dive instructor Dennis Karlsson who was on the Peter Panwhen the distress call from the Aladdin went out.
"It was just a coincidence that our boat was there and could come to the rescue," the Swedish newspaper quoted him as saying.

The Aladdin capsized and took just minutes to sink in 25 metres of water.

"It was really, really serious. It took on a lot of water," Mr Karlsson said.

"People threw themselves headlong into the water. Some were sucked under the water with the boat before they resurfaced and were pulled out. It was really amazing that everyone survived."

No one was seriously hurt.

Mr Karlsson said he understood the boat was holed when it ran over something in the water which was ramed into the hull by the propeller."

He told Aftonbladet that passengers on the Aladdin told him they were on a four-day dive trip in the Andaman Sea, emabarking in Khao Lak.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/all-safe-after-dramatic-sinking-near-phuket-video-44319.php


-- Phuket News 2014-01-30

[stevenl]

Strange header when in the first line is mentioned the incident happened near Koh Tachai.

Nice example BTW of one of the boats that should not be out there, this comes as no surprise at all.

Edited January 30, 2014 by stevenl

[thaibutty]

Agree with Steven. This boat was a disaster waiting to happen. I am surprised it took so many years....

Glad all are safe!

[khwaibah]

Glade all are safe.Another great PR opportunity for TAT.

[draftvader]

Is this one of TAT's much touted "underwater weddings"? Seriously though, you've got to admit that Thailand is doing a fantastic job of having a go at wiping out swathes of tourists daily at the moment. Trains, boats, buses & planes all in the last 6 months.

TAT needs to grow a pair and start shouting at the relevant authorities. Even if prices have to go up then prices have to go up. Regulation and monitoring is, by the looks of this video, long overdue.

[taony]

Where in the article does it say the boat was not sea worthy? It says something got caught in the propeller and then got shot into the under side of the boat creating the hole. I didn't understand what they were saying in the video, does it say something else?

I was on a dive boat that did this route the first week of January. The company was foreign owned, I think all or most of the liveaboard boats are.

[stevenl]

This boat, and a few others, was/are not seaworthy. It doesn't have to say something in an article for that to be the case.

[NamKangMan]

Strange header when in the first line is mentioned the incident happened near Koh Tachai.

Nice example BTW of one of the boats that should not be out there, this comes as no surprise at all.

"Nice example BTW of one of the boats that should not be out there" - how many other boats, like this one, are "out there" right now????

Edited January 30, 2014 by NamKangMan

[stevenl]

Strange header when in the first line is mentioned the incident happened near Koh Tachai.

Nice example BTW of one of the boats that should not be out there, this comes as no surprise at all.

"Nice example BTW of one of the boats that should not be out there" - how many other boats, like this one, are "out there" right now????

From Phuket all boats I would go on without hesitation. In other places there is less enforcement, and I have seen some boats at both the southern sites (from Krabi, Phi Phi and Koh Lanta) and Similans (from Khao Lak and Ranong) that I would not go on and don't book people on.

[LivinginKata]

The place that cannot be mentioned reports - According to park officials the Aladdin was not a registered vessel and should not have been operating. The Director of the Similan islands national park, Nat Kongkasem, said today ''The vessel operates out of Ranong,'' he said. ''It was not registered to operate in the national park and the hull was clearly of poor quality.''

[taony]

Thanks, details are good.

[Khun Robert]

thanks StevenNL,. Promoting Phuket and at the same time bashing about Krabi, Koh Lanta and Koh Phi Phi.

Get your ass over here with all your knowledgement about boats and perform an inspection on our boat.

And then tell me it is not seaworthy.

Our boat is 17 mtr long, 4 mtr width and I put a maximum of 25 customers on it for snorkeling tour and

12 for scuba diving tour. The boat used to be with a maximum of 60 Customers.

Our boat get's yearly maintenance at a ship yard, monthly inspections of Engineer and yearly inspection of Government of Thailand Marine Department..

I agree that some boats should not be out in open sea, for example a longtail boat. I agree that many live=a-boards are not the safest way to travel.

Almost flat bottom boat and to high up to make sundecks and covered sundecks. Lots of weight above the waterline.

I also agree that the inspection can be much better, and as many things in Thailand nobody enforce the law.

[Basil B]

Another nail in the coffin for Thai tourism.

This is sad because most boats used well maintained and corners are not cut, fortunately the Peter Pan was nearby.

What concerns me is the boat sank so fast, did it hit something or was it a leaky hulk that started to take on more water and it overwhelmed the bilge pumps if so then then there should have been time for the crew to warn passengers and get them to don life preservers.

Again in a few weeks and a few slapped wrists all will be forgotten, I can only conclude there are a few dive shops run on the cheap, with a total disregard for safety, with those who are supposed to regulate in their pockets, that undercut the many well managed ones who if they speak out find themselves being investigated instead.

[craigt3365]

Wow...that was fast. Glad everybody is OK. What a scare.

[stevenl]

thanks StevenNL,. Promoting Phuket and at the same time bashing about Krabi, Koh Lanta and Koh Phi Phi.

Get your ass over here with all your knowledgement about boats and perform an inspection on our boat.

And then tell me it is not seaworthy.

Our boat is 17 mtr long, 4 mtr width and I put a maximum of 25 customers on it for snorkeling tour and

12 for scuba diving tour. The boat used to be with a maximum of 60 Customers.

Our boat get's yearly maintenance at a ship yard, monthly inspections of Engineer and yearly inspection of Government of Thailand Marine Department..

I agree that some boats should not be out in open sea, for example a longtail boat. I agree that many live=a-boards are not the safest way to travel.

Almost flat bottom boat and to high up to make sundecks and covered sundecks. Lots of weight above the waterline.

I also agree that the inspection can be much better, and as many things in Thailand nobody enforce the law.

As I said 'some boats ...". I'm glad to hear you're part of the (vast) majority.

And as you said 'some boats should not be out in the open sea', so we agree.

[kkup]

Think that dude in the black that jumped in then dove under pulled someone out... Full credit to that legend.

[stevenl]

Some insider information. Apparently the boat sailed into a fishing net, which also caught the prop. This caused the whole propellor shaft to rip out. So more or less the bottom fell out from under the boat, which is why it sunk so fast.

[cloudhopper]

Gee another Thai dive boat sinks - how many does this one make in the last few years? Glad no one died this time.

[globin]

wow, adventure tourism at it's best

[alexgirl82]

My friend was on the Peter Pan boat that rescued customers on the Aladdin and filled us in on the situation when it ocurred yesterday. The reason why you see all the people jumping off the boat is not because the boat sank so quickly. It's because the customers decided to prioritize their luggage and put it on Peter Pan before getting themselves to safety. The boat took about 20 minutes total to fully sink and they had about 10 minutes to board Peter Pan. Some of the divers even had time to put their BCDs on. They can all swim. What you don't see is the panicked local staff that couldn't swim and all the brave people that jumped in to help each other.

What would you rescue first, your iphone or yourself? The customers chose their belongings.

[HerbalEd]

This boat, and a few others, was/are not seaworthy. It doesn't have to say something in an article for that to be the case.

So, are you saying that any boat that sinks in Thailand ... no matter the cause ... was not seaworthy when it set sail?

[stevenl]

This boat, and a few others, was/are not seaworthy. It doesn't have to say something in an article for that to be the case.

So, are you saying that any boat that sinks in Thailand ... no matter the cause ... was not seaworthy when it set sail?

Where did I say that? I am saying that this boat was not seaworthy. And I am saying that there are a few other boats sailing that are not seaworthy.

Sent from my D90W using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[thaifrelst]

These people saved themselves because they were divers. If this was a full moon party most of them would have drowned.

[nakhonandy]

My friend was on the Peter Pan boat that rescued customers on the Aladdin and filled us in on the situation when it ocurred yesterday. The reason why you see all the people jumping off the boat is not because the boat sank so quickly. It's because the customers decided to prioritize their luggage and put it on Peter Pan before getting themselves to safety. The boat took about 20 minutes total to fully sink and they had about 10 minutes to board Peter Pan. Some of the divers even had time to put their BCDs on. They can all swim. What you don't see is the panicked local staff that couldn't swim and all the brave people that jumped in to help each other.

What would you rescue first, your iphone or yourself? The customers chose their belongings.

To be fair in this situation if I could save my stuff I would, I would certainly get into my dive gear at the very least.

It is amazing that the local staff on some of these boats can't swim, I have seen it, it should be mandatory.

A few people bashing on about dive boats sinking all the time, they don't. Most are well run and seaworthy. With the odd exceptions.

Glad everybody was OK.

[nbg]

Peter Pan rescues Aladdin

Edited January 30, 2014 by nbg

[Balance]

Sounds like they hit some crap floating around. It can happen. There is a pile of crap somewhere in the Pacific that is measured in kilometers. A few years ago I hit a just submerged container halfway across the Atlantic. With luck it was a glancing blow and the forward hold was watertight.

[mrdome]

That video is just incredible - will go viral, no doubt.

[rumbo1]

I don't know about seaworthyness of individual vessels in Thailand or real causes for the sinking but it it certainly seems like this country has way to many public passenger boats going down and something needs to be done before there is a very major loss of life ( 1 is to many )

[Johpa]

What would you rescue first, your iphone or yourself? The customers chose their belongings.

The younger generation can not define their existence on this earth without refernce to their hi-tech phones. The devices have become smart whereas the people have become dumbed down. Imagine how stupid they would have felt back on land without their phones. Drowning may have been a preferable option to the alternative.

[jackinbkk]

"many of them having no time to put on life jackets."

Shouldn't you put on a life jacket before an incident? i.e. Plan ahead.