20 rescued as third dive boat sinks off Phuket

[webfact]

20 rescued as third dive boat sinks off Phuket

Claire Connell

Smiles of relief after the sun comes up over the crew and divers aboard the fishing boat that rescued them.

PHUKET: -- The Phuket News has learned that 15 French tourists were rescued after the dive boat they were on caught fire and sank around 60km southwest of Koh Lanta on February 1 – the third dive boat to sink in the past three weeks.

On board the MV Bunmee I liveaboard dive boat, owned by Kata-based French company Andaman Scuba, were 20 people – 15 French tourists ranging in age from 38 to 67, and five crew members.

The sinking has been kept very quiet until now, with rumours but no facts circulating in dive industry circles.

Details emerged after one diver on board, who asked to be named only as Xavier, contacted The Phuket News about the incident. He said the boat left Phuket around 10.30pm on February 1 for a four-day diving cruise to the southern sites of Hin Daeng and Hin Muang.

Four hours later, around 2.30 am, while the tourists were all asleep, someone on board smelled smoke and alerted others. As smoke began to pour into the cabin area from the engine room below, people were forced out onto the open deck.

“There were flames, then the crew used an extinguisher. After that the fire was hidden by the large amount of smoke,” Xavier said.

All on board evacuated to the top deck, here they realised that the electrical power was out. This meant no more radio, Xavier said. And being so far out to sea, there was no mobile phone service.

Xavier said someone on board made an emergency battery using diving lamps, and managed to get the radio working again, but no one had any accurate idea of their position.

“We were scared of course, especially because we couldn’t alert anyone to our difficulties. In addition, the lifeboat didn’t inflate when it was thrown into the sea – the crew tried for 20 minutes before it inflated,” he told The Phuket News.

Someone on board managed to use their iPhone to get the GPS location, and around 20 minutes later, the Bunmee I made VHF contact with a fishing boat.

“One hour later, the fishing boat found us and we saw the boat burning before sinking,” he told The Phuket News.

The fishing boat brought all back to Chalong Pier, arriving around six hours later.

“No one was injured, but we lost almost all our belongings,” Xavier said. “Twelve of us lost our passports, and then had a 12-hour bus trip to Bangkok to get a laissez-passer [a temporary travel document allowing them to return home to France] before taking the plane back to Paris.”

The Phuket News made repeated attempts to contact the Bunmee I’s owners, Andaman Scuba, but all calls went unanswered.

Asked why fires occur on board dive boats, a dive company owner, speaking on condition on anonymity said, “It’s not just dive boats. It’s all tourist boats.

“There are three problems: First, the market is so flooded with bad, cheap copies of electrical equipment that it is impossible to buy good, genuine parts, so the parts you buy are not so reliable.

“Second, there is a lack of skilled electricians on the island. Some of them think they know what they are doing, but they don’t really.

“And third, we’re in business, we’re in competition. So repairs at this time of year often have to be done at night, fast, and under pressure.”

Last Sunday (February 9), the MV Blue Star, belonging to Chalong Sea Sports, caught fire and sank in Burmese waters while on a week-long dive trip. All 20 or so people on board were rescued by a passing fishing boat, though they lost their belongings, and a great deal of expensive dive gear went down with the boat.

On January 29, the Ranong-based dive boat Magic Carpet sank near Koh Tachai after its hull was holed.

Fortunately the Phuket-based dive boat Peter Pan was close by to rescue all on board the Aladdin, which sank so fast that passengers had to leap for their lives, many of them having no time to put on life jackets.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/20-rescued-as-third-dive-boat-sinks-off-phuket-44571.php

-- Phuket News 2014-02-12

[clockman]

Wonderful advert! Thai and safety. Third world and allways will be.

[JoeThePoster]

“There are three problems: First, the market is so flooded with bad, cheap copies of electrical equipment that it is impossible to buy good, genuine parts, so the parts you buy are not so reliable.

“Second, there is a lack of skilled electricians on the island. Some of them think they know what they are doing, but they don’t really.

“And third, we’re in business, we’re in competition. So repairs at this time of year often have to be done at night, fast, and under pressure.”

Fakes, cowboys and profits.

[h90]

Wonderful advert! Thai and safety. Third world and allways will be.

"owned by Kata-based French company Andaman Scuba"

And this:

"“There are three problems: First, the market is so flooded with bad, cheap copies of electrical equipment that it is impossible to buy good, genuine parts, so the parts you buy are not so reliable.

“Second, there is a lack of skilled electricians on the island. Some of them think they know what they are doing, but they don’t really."

Is some of the lamest excuse I ever heard.

First you get every good quality thing in Thailand. Second if not you can easily buy it in Europe and let it ship here. Third electric installations on boats are relative simple, so they are simple to repair. It is not rocket science.....With some basic technical understanding and Thaivisa forum it can be done.

Fourth....an electric short will blow the fuse....if it is on the generator the complete boat might be on the backup batteries.....But no fire, as there shouldn't be easily burning things close.

Something wrong with the safety if the fire can't be extinguished fast.

Well just about everything is wrong......

[draftvader]

This is getting silly now. What will TAT do? Probably announce that live-aboard dive tours are seeing record numbers despite the protests and sinking boats.

I wonder what most of the ThaiVisa members would tell their friends if asked about dive tours in Thailand. Shame really as we know that some of our own are running these operations very professionally. It is the muppets that will ruin their markets for them!

[draftvader]

Wonderful advert! Thai and safety. Third world and allways will be.

"owned by Kata-based French company Andaman Scuba"

And this:

"“There are three problems: First, the market is so flooded with bad, cheap copies of electrical equipment that it is impossible to buy good, genuine parts, so the parts you buy are not so reliable.

“Second, there is a lack of skilled electricians on the island. Some of them think they know what they are doing, but they don’t really."

Is some of the lamest excuse I ever heard.

First you get every good quality thing in Thailand. Second if not you can easily buy it in Europe and let it ship here. Third electric installations on boats are relative simple, so they are simple to repair. It is not rocket science.....With some basic technical understanding and Thaivisa forum it can be done.

Fourth....an electric short will blow the fuse....if it is on the generator the complete boat might be on the backup batteries.....But no fire, as there shouldn't be easily burning things close.

Something wrong with the safety if the fire can't be extinguished fast.

Well just about everything is wrong......

At a guess they only had either no ("hey, we're on water....plenty of buckets"), or water only, fire extinguishers rather than CO2.

[cloudhopper]

The crew had no idea what their position was? Says it all about compentency here in the land of excuses.

Fortunately the passengers saved the day.

[Soupdragon]

I can't say if this is typical but this was a new electrical installation on a Phuket Liveaboard I was on.

[KarenBravo]

Where's stevenl?

He'll have the true gossip.

[Cbr150r]

Hub for sinking boats...sorry couldn't resist as I love these hub jokes.

Seriously though I'm glad all have been rescued.

[Womble25]

I can't say if this is typical but this was a new electrical installation on a Phuket Liveaboard I was on.

At least give us a slight clue to who this was so that people are well informed...

[stevenl]

Where's stevenl?

He'll have the true gossip.

I already mentioned this sinking in the other thread, so idea idea why they say there were no facts. The operator tried to keep things quiet, which has worked for 10 days.

Don't think there is much gossip about either of the 2 latest sinkings, Blue Star and Bunmee, All we can do is hope that this draws some attention to the use of smoke detectors and fire extinguishers on especially liveaboard boats

[Travelman868]

“There are three problems: First, the market is so flooded with bad, cheap copies of electrical equipment that it is impossible to buy good, genuine parts, so the parts you buy are not so reliable.

“Second, there is a lack of skilled electricians on the island. Some of them think they know what they are doing, but they don’t really.

“And third, we’re in business, we’re in competition. So repairs at this time of year often have to be done at night, fast, and under pressure.”

Fakes, cowboys and profits.

And the forth reason is that too many Thai's think that all income is profit.

[IrishIvan]

Where's stevenl?

He'll have the true gossip.

I already mentioned this sinking in the other thread, so idea idea why they say there were no facts. The operator tried to keep things quiet, which has worked for 10 days.

Don't think there is much gossip about either of the 2 latest sinkings, Blue Star and Bunmee, All we can do is hope that this draws some attention to the use of smoke detectors and fire extinguishers on especially liveaboard boats

Heat activated sprinkler systems in the engine room would do you much more good than a smoke detector whilst everyones asleep

[SOTIRIOS]

...I paid for extra wiring for a new air con unit....around 5 meters.....

...I caught the 'technician' joining all manner of odd pieces of wire, of various thicknesses, to make up the 5 meters of extra...'new' wire needed....

..what can you do when there are no standards, no responsibility, no accountability, no consequences....

...just look at the rice 'scheme'...the flood management scheme...and on and on....it is 'the order of the day'....

[Doc46]

Wonderful advert! Thai and safety. Third world and allways will be.

It's O K that a dive boat sinks into the dark ocean ;;;;;;nobody will drown cous we all have first class diving gear with us 55555 55555 55555

[beowolf2012]

I can't say if this is typical but this was a new electrical installation on a Phuket Liveaboard I was on.

looks really dangerous

and 5 Thais working on a diving ship and do not know their stay at sea.

Now 3 both just in one and half months smell of insurance fraud

[monkey4u]

The answer to why so many boats are sinking is easy.

Too many boats and few customers makes for a sweet insurance claim.

Who is going to go searching for a boat when no one knows where its exact position is.

[robertthebruce]

This is Thailand, and we all know that SAFETY in any context is non existent...., We know that but unfortunately ''Tourists dont''..

Also, as we all know, that the type of tourists coming to Thailand is changing, not for the better, and there home countries, Like ''Thailand'' , Safety is not an issue...

[stevenl]

I can't say if this is typical but this was a new electrical installation on a Phuket Liveaboard I was on.

looks really dangerous

and 5 Thais working on a diving ship and do not know their stay at sea.

Now 3 both just in one and half months smell of insurance fraud

The answer to why so many boats are sinking is easy.

Too many boats and few customers makes for a sweet insurance claim.

Who is going to go searching for a boat when no one knows where its exact position is.

Since for sure 2 of the 3 boats had far insufficient insurance, if any, insurance fraud is very unlikely.

Sent from my D90W using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[KarenBravo]

Heat activated sprinkler systems in the engine room would do you much more good than a smoke detector whilst everyones asleep

Good way to either electrocute people, or, sink a boat. No boats use water sprinkler systems in an engine room and all engine room systems are manually activated.

This is because they use carbon dioxide (previously Halon) and the engine room must be evacuated before the CO2 system is activated.

Ivan, I think you're qualified to be a Thai safety officer.

[Soupdragon]

I can't say if this is typical but this was a new electrical installation on a Phuket Liveaboard I was on.

At least give us a slight clue to who this was so that people are well informed...

The boat is no longer working around Phuket so no point naming. As I said I have no idea if that is typical.

[noikrit]

Yet another wreck dive .....

[KarenBravo]

Yet another wreck dive .....

.........if they knew where it was.

[Showbags]

more rum...more rum...more rum...

[Charlie1]

Wanna go on a dive boat in Thailand?

The boat dives and you go.. home..

[Shurup]

Note to myself - next liveboat trip, leave all my expensive junk on shore!

[Showbags]

and take your own decent looking life jacket...especially if with kids.....and a sat phone...maybe raft also.

[sonar6ca]

Are there any left?

[Ulic]

I can't say if this is typical but this was a new electrical installation on a Phuket Liveaboard I was on.

I don't understand, looks to me like it's passes code in Thailand.