Phi Phi - Phuket speedboat rams fishing boat off Koh Yao, three of 40 passengers lost at sea

[webfact]

UPDATE

Search continues off Phuket coast for two missing Koreans

BANGKOK: -- Phuket rescue teams and marine police from Krabi continued to search for two Korean tourists who went missing after a speed boat with 40 tourists collided with a fishing trawler off Phuket coast yesterday.

The missing are a Korean man and a woman.

They went missing when the speedboat with 45 others crashed into a fishing trawler about five nautical miles off Yao Yai island on Sunday evening.

Chief of the Marine Police Division based in Krabi, Pol Col Phumin Phumpanmuang reported the speedboat, owned by Seastar Company was taking tourists from Phi Phi island in Krabi to Phuket.

The speedboat carried 46 passengers who included 37 foreign tourists of Chinese, Europe and Korean nationals, four Thai boat crew and skippers, two tour guides, and the two Korean tourists who are still missing.

A team of police and rescuers are still trying to find the two missing tourists this morning.

Anupong Arsarat, a former administrative official on Yao Yai island, said the speedboat operated by Mr Surat Matorot, was likely to have been traveling at high speed despite heavy rain causing poor visibility.

He was detained by police for reckless driving.

The speedboat was carrying passengers, mostly Chinese, from Phi Phi island to Phuket when the crash occurred around dusk.

“Eight passengers were seriously injured with two missing. We don’t know what has happened to them yet,” Pol Col Chanucharn Chonsuwat of Phang Nga province said Sunday.

The cause of the crash was unknown, he said.

A conflicting report from China’s official news agency Xinhua said the two missing tourists were from South Korea, while 14 Chinese passengers suffered “slight injuries”.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/search-continues-phuket-coast-two-missing-koreans/


-- Thai PBS 2014-10-20

[thequietman]

Third Naval Area Command to continue search for two missing Korean passengers on Monday

BANGKOK, 20 October 2014 (NNT) - The Third Naval Area Command will continue on Monday the search for two Korean passengers who have been missing after a boat accident in southern Krabi.

The rescue operation following an accident which happened around six nautical miles off Phi Phi Island in Krabi Province on Sunday evening is scheduled to be resumed on Monday.

The original operation was called off at 8 pm of Sunday, hours after a tourist speedboat carrying foreign tourists from Phi Phi Island back to the main land reportedly crashed with a fishing vessel.

Forty one people, including 37 tourists and six crews, tour guide and photographer, have been rescued by the joint Marine Police-Third Naval Area Command operation. Among the rescued tourists are 31 Chinese tourists, four Korean tourists and two British tourists.

? As of Sunday night, two Korean passengers remained missing.

The Phuket Provincial Police have already taken in 36-year-old Surat Mat-osot, the captain of the fatal speedboat, for questioning.

-- NNT 2014-10-20

I fear they may need that submarine they have been hankering for in order to find this poor couple. I hope they are alive but i doubt it.

[KarenBravo]

Thailand and safety rules never come together.

I don't know how many speedboat accidents were happaned here in last 10 years.

I have no idea how they coludn't see a FISHBOAT !!!!

They will say bad luck, bad kharma BUT a simple idiocy as usually.

Longtails are not really that big, and easily lost in a few waves.

The other news source has now changed their story and are now saying that the fishing boat "was the larger vessel".

[stevenl]

Thailand and safety rules never come together.

I don't know how many speedboat accidents were happaned here in last 10 years.

I have no idea how they coludn't see a FISHBOAT !!!!

They will say bad luck, bad kharma BUT a simple idiocy as usually.

Longtails are not really that big, and easily lost in a few waves.

The other news source has now changed their story and are now saying that the fishing boat "was the larger vessel".

When I heard the news I presumed it was a longtail, because that would make most sense. If it was not, and it now points that way, I really can not understand what happened except pure stupidity.

[bob4you]

Thailand and safety rules never come together.

I don't know how many speedboat accidents were happaned here in last 10 years.

I have no idea how they coludn't see a FISHBOAT !!!!

They will say bad luck, bad kharma BUT a simple idiocy as usually.

Longtails are not really that big, and easily lost in a few waves.

And undoubtedly no running lights on a longtail. I hope all passengers were wearing mandatory life jackets.

[KarenBravo]

The driver claims that he bent over to pick up a plastic bag.

Hmm....that excuse might work for a car, but, a boat?

[steelepulse]

The driver claims that he bent over to pick up a plastic bag.

Hmm....that excuse might work for a car, but, a boat?

That was the best excuse he could think up? I would like to know his excuse at how he didn't notice none of his passengers were wearing life jackets like they are supposed to be wearing.

[Jip66]

Developed country within 9 years.

Which year would that 9yrs be starting from?

[bob4you]

did they have on their mandatory life vests? If so still may be drifting out there.

[stevenl]

did they have on their mandatory life vests? If so still may be drifting out there.

Highly unlikely they were wearing vests.

[webfact]

UPDATE

Search resumes for missing South Koreans after Thai boat crash: police
Bangkok, Thailand | AFP |

BANGKOK: -- The search has resumed for two South Korean tourists missing off Thailand's southern coast after their tour boat crashed into a fishing vessel, police said Monday.

The accident occurred on Sunday evening when the speedboat, carrying around 40 passengers -- including South Koreans, Chinese and a number of Western tourists -- struck a fishing boat in the Andaman Sea between the popular islands of Phi Phi and Phuket.

"The driver of the speedboat was distracted and pulling a plastic bag from his foot when he crashed," Colonel Pruttipong Nuchnart of Krabi police told AFP, adding he had been arrested for careless driving.

"Navy and maritime police are searching for a man and a woman from South Korea who went missing in the water after the crash," he added.

The search was postponed overnight.

Conflicting reports on Sunday said the missing duo were Chinese.

Accidents involving boats, buses and other forms of public transport are common in Thailand, where safety standards are generally lax.

Thai authorities are desperate to restore the kingdom's reputation as a tourist haven, which has been buffeted in recent months.

Prolonged and often-violent protests in Bangkok resulted in a coup on May 22 and the introduction of martial law -- which is yet to be revoked.

The murder of two British holidaymakers on the southern resort island of Koh Tao in mid-September has also raised serious fears over tourist safety.

A murder probe into their deaths has been dogged by allegations of police bungling and ineptitude.


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2014-10-20

[animatic]

Why does this not surprise at all...?

"The driver of the speedboat was distracted and pulling a plastic bag from his foot when he crashed," Colonel Pruttipong Nuchnart of Krabi police told AFP, adding he had been arrested for careless driving.

[hansgruber]

When has a Thai ever picked up a plastic bag? The streets and sea are full of them.

I doubt he cared about it blowing into the water.

Sent from my LG-D858

[madmitch]

Why does this not surprise at all...?

"The driver of the speedboat was distracted and pulling a plastic bag from his foot when he crashed," Colonel Pruttipong Nuchnart of Krabi police told AFP, adding he had been arrested for careless driving.

The driver has stated this on the latest Gazette bulletin. In many world jurisdictions this would be deemed an admission of liability and he would be charged with manslaughter.

Reminiscent of the pickup driver that killed two cyclists in Chachoengsao province last year, claiming the accident was due to his picking up his hat from the floor. I wonder whatever happened to him?

[hansgruber]

Why does this not surprise at all...?

"The driver of the speedboat was distracted and pulling a plastic bag from his foot when he crashed," Colonel Pruttipong Nuchnart of Krabi police told AFP, adding he had been arrested for careless driving.

The driver has stated this on the latest Gazette bulletin. In many world jurisdictions this would be deemed an admission of liability and he would be charged with manslaughter.

Reminiscent of the pickup driver that killed two cyclists in Chachoengsao province last year, claiming the accident was due to his picking up his hat from the floor. I wonder whatever happened to him?

He was fined 1000 baht and released with a suspended sentence.

Truly disgusting.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2640470/Thai-truck-driver-knocked-killed-British-couple-23rd-country-round-world-cycling-trip-fined-just-18.html

Sent from my LG-D858

[inzman]

Thai justice, kill a bunch of people because of stupidity, actually negligence,1000 baht fine, pick a mushroom in a forest 20 years in prison. <deleted>?

[NamKangMan]

"The driver of the speedboat was distracted and pulling a plastic bag from his foot when he crashed," - and how long would that take????

What a ridiculous excuse for causing this accident.

[sawadee1947]

..and what? Will it change anything in their brains? I mean Prayut and company? Any actions? And will they wonder why Tourists will avoid to come to Thailand? I doubt it.

[craigt3365]

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