Krabi speedboat driver jailed for two years for 'Disaster in the Bay' tourist deaths

[webfact]

Krabi speedboat driver jailed for two years for 'Disaster in the Bay' tourist deaths
Supatra Sutham


The survivors were brought back to Phuket for emergency treatment. Photo: PR Dept

KRABI: -- The speedboat driver who claimed he was “picking up a plastic bag from the cabin floor” when his boat full of tourists rammed a fishing trawler, leaving two Koreans dead and dozens injured last year, has been sentenced to two years in jail.

All of those on board who survived the crash – 37 passengers and six crew – were hospitalised, some with serious head and spinal injuries. (See story here.)

Surat Mat-Osot was charged with reckless piloting causing death and damaged property.

“He was found guilty on March 26 and sentenced to two years in prison,” Maj Sopon Khongtong of the Krabi police told The Phuket News.

“No Thai tourists filed a complaint against the boat company and the victims’ families did not file a complaint either,” Maj Sopon said.

“I have no information about whether or not the Seastar boat company has already settled for property damages. We only handled the criminal charge against Mr Surat. Everything else is up to the court to decide.”

Surat, 36-year-old Krabi native, was arrested by Krabi Police and charged with reckless piloting resulting in injury when he crashed the Seastar 29 speedboat, owned by the company Vita 2, full of some 40 tourists and on the return leg to Phuket from Koh Phi Phi with a Thai fishing boat in October 2014.

The collision flung tourists around the inside of the boat and into the water. Most were not wearing life vests. Two Korean tourists were later found dead at the bottom of Phang Nga bay.

Surat told police in his statement that he had bent down to secure a black plastic bag that was blowing about the boat, and when he straightened up he saw the trawler Sinpichai 11 dead ahead.

He turned sharply to try to avoid a collision but the speedboat became caught up in the trawler’s fishing equipment and slammed into the fishing boat’s stern.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/krabi-speedboat-driver-jailed-for-two-years-for-disaster-in-the-bay-tourist-deaths-53096.php


-- Phuket News 2015-07-07

[realenglish1]

Yes mu son used a similar reasoning,

He was walking by the cooky jar when i dropped his pencil He said he bent over to retrieve it and in the process

his hand he uses to balance ended up in the Cookie Jar.

After standing up he found he had a cookie in his hand So he ate it

Amazing isn't it

[Jimlove]

Another idiot driving a boat, car, train etc. etc. getting away with lousy 2 years for killing people cause he was : Drunk - on the Phone - Sleeping or something like that ... Hope he get a hard time in there if he ever goes ... T.i.T. Stay away from here if you care for your life !!!

[nontabury]

Another idiot driving a boat, car, train etc. etc. getting away with lousy 2 years for killing people cause he was : Drunk - on the Phone - Sleeping or something like that ... Hope he get a hard time in there if he ever goes ... T.i.T. Stay away from here if you care for your life !!!

Two years,this means the sentence is in fact one year. Then if his village head will vouch for him, his sentence will again be reduced by another 3months. Time served just 9 months.

[wabothai]

The plastic bag did it !!!

What a poor excuse.

Every pilot should know what is ahead of him at any time.

He deserves his time in the slammer.

[djlest]

Only 2 years!!!!!!!
yet if you speak against god you get 10 to 20!!!
So it takes about 5 seconds to pick up a plastic bag and during those 5 seconds a boat magically appears in front of him!

Edited July 7, 2015 by djlest

[Srikcir]

Kill two and injure dozens gets two years in jail.

Protest against the Junta gets seven years in jail.

Deal in drugs gets 1,400 years in jail.

Wheel of Fortune is more predictable.

[nottocus]

Why didn't he just become a monk and say the spirits of the dead Koreans had visited him to offer forgiveness?

[callaway]

Cannot be true. No thai picks up rubbish. No matter what the situation.

[spidermike007]

This is why the entire planet regards the Thai justice system with such little regard. Even when convicted of such a horrific crime, this creton gets 2 years in jail, which will probably be reduced to time served. Are there no judges in this country with courage? Where is the deterrent?

[impulse]

This is why the entire planet regards the Thai justice system with such little regard. Even when convicted of such a horrific crime, this creton gets 2 years in jail, which will probably be reduced to time served. Are there no judges in this country with courage? Where is the deterrent?

He didn't go out and deliberately harm anyone. He had a momentary lapse in focus resulting in a crash. Tragically, people died.

It's one thing if he was drunk, or high, or hot dogging, or deliberately driving recklessly. But I'm not reading that in the stories.

Should he be punished? Sure, but appropriately. For an accident, 2 years in a Thai prison seems pretty harsh.

(500 baht fine for beating a foreigner half to death, that's why the Thai justice system has such a bad reputation.)

[spidermike007]

This is why the entire planet regards the Thai justice system with such little regard. Even when convicted of such a horrific crime, this creton gets 2 years in jail, which will probably be reduced to time served. Are there no judges in this country with courage? Where is the deterrent?

He didn't go out and deliberately harm anyone. He had a momentary lapse in focus resulting in a crash. Tragically, people died.

It's one thing if he was drunk, or high, or hot dogging, or deliberately driving recklessly. But I'm not reading that in the stories.

Should he be punished? Sure, but appropriately. For an accident, 2 years in a Thai prison seems pretty harsh.

(500 baht fine for beating a foreigner half to death, that's why the Thai justice system has such a bad reputation.)

A momentary lapse in focus? Are you his lawyer? This guy's "loss of focus" resulted in deaths and many injuries, devastating many families in the process. How would you feel if your mother or father died in that accident? Or your son? Would you feel that 24 months is enough time served? It is not. It is another instance of Thai injustice. My guess is that the owner of the boat fleet got involved.

[peecee]

This is why the entire planet regards the Thai justice system with such little regard. Even when convicted of such a horrific crime, this creton gets 2 years in jail, which will probably be reduced to time served. Are there no judges in this country with courage? Where is the deterrent?

He didn't go out and deliberately harm anyone. He had a momentary lapse in focus resulting in a crash. Tragically, people died.

It's one thing if he was drunk, or high, or hot dogging, or deliberately driving recklessly. But I'm not reading that in the stories.

Should he be punished? Sure, but appropriately. For an accident, 2 years in a Thai prison seems pretty harsh.

(500 baht fine for beating a foreigner half to death, that's why the Thai justice system has such a bad reputation.)

Clearly you think like all Thai's that the use of any form of transport in killing people is just bad luck. Not to see a fishing trawler is poor seamanship, even if vis was down then he is responsible for maintaining a vigilant lookout and his vessels speed. However, I don't believe this or the feeble plastic bag excuse. I feel this idiot was showing of in trying to pass very close at high speed and failed to understand what a trawler actually does. To my mind his actions equate to manslaughter through negligence and equate to 10yrs porridge.

[impulse]

This is why the entire planet regards the Thai justice system with such little regard. Even when convicted of such a horrific crime, this creton gets 2 years in jail, which will probably be reduced to time served. Are there no judges in this country with courage? Where is the deterrent?

He didn't go out and deliberately harm anyone. He had a momentary lapse in focus resulting in a crash. Tragically, people died.

It's one thing if he was drunk, or high, or hot dogging, or deliberately driving recklessly. But I'm not reading that in the stories.

Should he be punished? Sure, but appropriately. For an accident, 2 years in a Thai prison seems pretty harsh.

(500 baht fine for beating a foreigner half to death, that's why the Thai justice system has such a bad reputation.)

Clearly you think like all Thai's that the use of any form of transport in killing people is just bad luck. Not to see a fishing trawler is poor seamanship, even if vis was down then he is responsible for maintaining a vigilant lookout and his vessels speed. However, I don't believe this or the feeble plastic bag excuse. I feel this idiot was showing of in trying to pass very close at high speed and failed to understand what a trawler actually does. To my mind his actions equate to manslaughter through negligence and equate to 10yrs porridge.

Hopefully, we'll never get to see how you feel if it's your or one of your loved ones at the wheel or the helm when people are accidentally killed in a tragic accident. Tragic accidents happen to decent folk, too. Life's not fair that way.

Generic Thai idiot? Hang 'em high. Me and my loved ones behind the wheel? It's different, isn't it?

If I thought I had the chance to go to jail for 10 years if I caused (or was accused of causing) a road accident, I'd quit driving in Thailand.

[spidermike007]

This is why the entire planet regards the Thai justice system with such little regard. Even when convicted of such a horrific crime, this creton gets 2 years in jail, which will probably be reduced to time served. Are there no judges in this country with courage? Where is the deterrent?

He didn't go out and deliberately harm anyone. He had a momentary lapse in focus resulting in a crash. Tragically, people died.

It's one thing if he was drunk, or high, or hot dogging, or deliberately driving recklessly. But I'm not reading that in the stories.

Should he be punished? Sure, but appropriately. For an accident, 2 years in a Thai prison seems pretty harsh.

(500 baht fine for beating a foreigner half to death, that's why the Thai justice system has such a bad reputation.)

Clearly you think like all Thai's that the use of any form of transport in killing people is just bad luck. Not to see a fishing trawler is poor seamanship, even if vis was down then he is responsible for maintaining a vigilant lookout and his vessels speed. However, I don't believe this or the feeble plastic bag excuse. I feel this idiot was showing of in trying to pass very close at high speed and failed to understand what a trawler actually does. To my mind his actions equate to manslaughter through negligence and equate to 10yrs porridge.

Hopefully, we'll never get to see how you feel if it's your or one of your loved ones at the wheel or the helm when people are accidentally killed in a tragic accident. Tragic accidents happen to decent folk, too. Life's not fair that way.

Generic Thai idiot? Hang 'em high. Me and my loved ones behind the wheel? It's different, isn't it?

If I thought I had the chance to go to jail for 10 years if I caused (or was accused of causing) a road accident, I'd quit driving in Thailand.

Vehicles are weapons when put in the wrong hands. There has to be a message that if you are careless, if you get drunk, if you are stupid and cause death, you will pay a heavy price. It is only right. It is only fair to families of the deceased. Yes, 10 years for causing multiple deaths is reasonable. Just do it.

[impulse]

Vehicles are weapons when put in the wrong hands. There has to be a message that if you are careless, if you get drunk, if you are stupid and cause death, you will pay a heavy price. It is only right. It is only fair to families of the deceased. Yes, 10 years for causing multiple deaths is reasonable. Just do it.

Once again, easy to pass judgment from the cheap seats.

Wait until you have an accident, and are at the mercy of the oh-so-consistent Thai justice system.

Not the same order of magnitude as multiple deaths, but the OP here captures the gist of it (and his story didn't have a tragic end, but he seems to realize that it could have). Get behind the wheel, roll the dice, bet your life.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/839506-things-that-make-me-go-aaaarrrrrrggggggghhhhhh-in-los/

Edited July 11, 2015 by impulse

[spidermike007]

Vehicles are weapons when put in the wrong hands. There has to be a message that if you are careless, if you get drunk, if you are stupid and cause death, you will pay a heavy price. It is only right. It is only fair to families of the deceased. Yes, 10 years for causing multiple deaths is reasonable. Just do it.

Once again, easy to pass judgment from the cheap seats.

Wait until you have an accident, and are at the mercy of the oh-so-consistent Thai justice system.

Not the same order of magnitude as multiple deaths, but the OP here captures the gist of it (and the story didn't have a tragic end, but it could have). Get behind the wheel, roll the dice, bet your life.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/839506-things-that-make-me-go-aaaarrrrrrggggggghhhhhh-in-los/

His carelessness has caused two deaths, that have devastated two families. In addition to injuring dozens. Some of those people may never walk again, may never again have the use of their hands or arms, or eyes. This is tragic. This WAS avoidable. He was on the open seas. He had a lot of time to make this move. If you are the captain of a boat, you simply do not allow yourself to become distracted by a plastic bag, if you are close to other boats. It is a simple maritime rule. Focus when in close quarters. It does seem as if the captain was incompetent. And in addition to that, this guy was careless, and reckless, and deserves to pay a huge price for his actions, which have caused great pain, misery and expense to many. And the company should be liable for the medical costs, of all involved.