Patong dive tour operator surfaces in Chinese tourist dive death

[webfact]

Patong dive tour operator surfaces in Chinese tourist dive death
The Phuket News


Phang Nga Governor Pakhapong Thawipat is focusing on what safety protocols can be introduced to prevent any future diving tragedies. Photo: PR Dept / file

PHUKET: -- The Chinese tourist whose lifeless body was found alone and around 11 metres deep by another dive tour group north of Phuket on Saturday (Nov 28) had booked her dive tour through a Patong operator, The Phuket News has learned.

Zhang Lin, 23, was on a dive tour run by Phuket William Diving, said Tongkan Worapanya, owner of the Similan Seven Sea Club dive company, which was initially named by police as the company that Ms Zhang was with. (See story here.)

Similan Seven Sea Club had only provided the boat, Mr Tongkan explained today (Nov 30).

“Phuket William Diving, which is based in Patong, often charters our boat (the MV Peterpan) to conduct dive tours,” Mr Tongkan said.

“We have some staff on board, mostly Thai staff and also two foreign dive instructors, but none of our staff were involved in the dive tour that Ms Zhang was with.

Mr Tongkan said that, as far as he was aware, “the other company” had a translator who is also a dive master leading the tour group.

“I believe there were also two advanced divers, one divemaster and one instructor in the group Ms Zhang was diving with,” he said.

“I don’t know what went wrong on that dive, or how she came to be separated from her group. I am still waiting for the report from the dive master and the instructor.”

Mr Tongkan confirmed that he had been presented data recorded by Ms Zhang’s dive computer at the time she went missing.

“When her body was found by the other divers, she had been underwater 26 minutes,” he said.

Full story: http://www.thephuketnews.com/patong-dive-tour-operator-surfaces-in-chinese-tourist-dive-death-55201.php


-- Phuket News 2015-12-01

[docshock13]

I believe there were also two advanced divers, one divemaster and one instructor in the group Ms Zhang was diving with, he said.

Who are they? And more importantly where are they? They should have given statements by now.

I sincerely hope they were not allowed to "flee the scene." But given the amount of time the boat owner had to come forward, I fear that those involved may have already made themselves disappear.

Let us hope not.

[stevenl]

Bull shit statement. He knows much more.

And yes, I fear as well that everybody who was involved has left the country by now.

[stephenterry]

Bull shit statement. He knows much more.

And yes, I fear as well that everybody who was involved has left the country by now.

Exactly. Another Thai cover-up in progress. I'm <deleted> sick of reading similar stories where there are non-existent safety enforcements that end in tragedy and death.

[SOTIRIOS]

....sick sh*t......

...nobody to blame eh......

...!@#$%^&* you......

[fred Kubasa]

Olympic grade finger pointing. I am surprised that Chinese authorities

aren't screaming " bloody murder " re the spate of recent tradgedys

involving their citizens.

[Srikcir]

“We have some staff on board, mostly Thai staff and also two foreign dive instructors, but none of our staff were involved in the dive"

What then was the purpose of the two foreign dive instructors on board? It suggests that they were surreptiously taking advantage of the charter to do some free personal diving using the buddy system. From that viewpoint they would have no responsibility for the tour group dive, unless they were to observe some overt and obvious mishap.

It would remain the tour operator to assure dive safety. Similan Seven Sea Club would only be responsible for safe operation of the vessel.

[steveyinasia]

Thai version of responsibility....it wasn't me......

[sawadee1947]

after some days of blabla one or two will be fined with 500 Baht. And that's it. Business as usual. Very sad. Makes me sick and angry!!!

[Khun Robert]

instructors are supposed to make an immidiate accident report according the Dive Organisations.

But they did not come forward yet, company is buying time so the staff working without work permit can leave the country??

[inzman]

It wasn't us, nobody knows anything, how lame! TAT should be ashamed of how utterly irresponsible the diving is conducted here. Boy, you wouldn't catch me trusting these cowboys.

[oneday]

I have never been on a drive boat where there was more than one company or groups running separate shows. All the dive boats I have been on have only had one company and one group diving and their dive-masters were in complete control of everyone diving.

For the owner of the boat to abdicate all responsibility...well that's just par for the course here.

Edited December 1, 2015 by oneday

[nahkit]

Mr Tongkan confirmed that he had been presented data recorded by Ms Zhang’s dive computer at the time she went missing.

“When her body was found by the other divers, she had been underwater 26 minutes,” he said.

And in the report the day before:-

A speedboat sped Ms Zhang ashore and she was rushed to Tai Muang Hospital, but doctors there said that she died at least six hours before her body was discovered.

So does this mean she was already dead before she went into the water or are the doctors wrong?

[Lampang2]

I don't think they will get of the hook so easily, as we are dealing with a Chinese tourist.

[steelepulse]

The normal response.............." Wasn't me"

[gandalf12]

I have never been on a drive boat where there was more than one company or groups running separate shows. All the dive boats I have been on have only had one company and one group diving and their dive-masters were in complete control of everyone diving.

For the owner of the boat to abdicate all responsibility...well that's just par for the course here.

I went on a dive boat in Malaysia and the safety was excellent. In Thailand no way would I go. There is no safety associated with anything in Thailand.

[goonnerone]

I have never been on a drive boat where there was more than one company or groups running separate shows. All the dive boats I have been on have only had one company and one group diving and their dive-masters were in complete control of everyone diving.

For the owner of the boat to abdicate all responsibility...well that's just par for the course here.

Then you haven't been on many dive boats I worked for 3 years as a Dive Master and 5 years as an Instructor on Koh Samui and Koh Tao and most dive company's share dive boats with several Dive Company's.

[goonnerone]

“We have some staff on board, mostly Thai staff and also two foreign dive instructors, but none of our staff were involved in the dive"

What then was the purpose of the two foreign dive instructors on board? It suggests that they were surreptitiously taking advantage of the charter to do some free personal diving using the buddy system. From that viewpoint they would have no responsibility for the tour group dive, unless they were to observe some overt and obvious mishap.

It would remain the tour operator to assure dive safety. Similan Seven Sea Club would only be responsible for safe operation of the vessel.

Yes I agree I worked for 3 years as a Dive Master and 4 years as an Instructor on Koh Samui and Koh Tao and most dive company's share dive boats with several Dive Company's each Dive Company is normally responsible for his own group of Divers and the Captain checks with the head of the group to insure all is on board,

This is a confusing story because it depends if the Chinese group booked a dive tour or just boat space. if the group booked a dive tour then the tour company has a duty of care to make sure every one is back on board safely The Dive guide is there to guide the group he has a duty of care not to go to depths deeper than the divers are qualified to or to put the diver in risk, it is the sole responsibility of each qualified dive to assure there own safety and the safety of there dive buddy,

Now according to the story or best I can make out the Chinese group booked the dive through a dive company then desired to use there own dive leader if this is the case then neither the boat owner or the Dive Company are responsible as the responsibility during the dive it lies at feet of the qualified diver. far too many dives get there dive qualifications them fail to keep there skills up to date they have some strange idea that they are not responsible for there own safety as a qualified diver you should be able to plan your dive and dive your plan so in this case it seems the dive tour operator was responsible to make sure all in his group was back on board before leaving only and not for the dive.

[goonnerone]

I see loads of bull shit statements on this story from people that have never worked in the dive industry. I worked for 3 years as a Dive Master and 4 years as an Instructor on Koh Samui and Koh Tao and most dive company's share dive boats with several Dive Company's each Dive Company is normally responsible for his own group of Divers and the Captain checks with the head of the group to insure all is on board,

This is a confusing story because it depends if the Chinese group booked a dive tour or just boat space. if the group booked a dive tour then the tour company has a duty of care to make sure every one is back on board safely The Dive guide is there to guide the group he has a duty of care not to go to depths deeper than the divers are qualified in his group or to put the diver in risk,

It is the sole responsibility of each qualified dive to assure there own safety and the safety of there dive buddy,

Now according to the story or best I can make out the Chinese group booked the dive through a dive company then desired to use there own dive leader if this is the case then neither the boat owner or the Dive Company are responsible during the dive as the responsibility during the dive lies at feet of the qualified diver. far too many dives get there dive qualifications them fail to keep there skills up to date they have some strange idea that they are not responsible for there own safety as a qualified diver you should be able to plan your dive and dive your plan so in this case it seems the dive tour operator was responsible to make sure all in his group was back on board before leaving only and not for the dive and the boat owner is responsible for the safety of the boat

[scubadude75]

i find it shocking how quickly people make uniformed accusations which in an essence add up to at least gross negligence if not murder based on a poorly written newspaper article that is not exactly new york times material. the girl was in the water under 30 minutes but because of logistics and distance, by the time the coroner examined her she had been dead for 6 hours. one hour of this was while having cpr performed but to no avail. you are acting like the coroner was on the boat and delared her dead for 6 hours the second she was pulled out of the water. please have some comprehension of the logistics involved with this sort of operation or in lieu of this just shut the hell up.

as far as the thought that only one dive shop operates on one boat. this is not the case in asia and i can almost guarantee that whatever boat you may have been on, there were divers and possibly guides from other companies with you. you may not be aware of the situation because why would you bother with that sort of crap but trust me, using booking agents whom sometimes send their own guides onto another companies boat is standard procedure.

I dont understand why people have a problem with the owner stating that this was a chartered trip. the booking agent rented the boat for a private group from china. the owner provided the boat and food and fuel...thai boat staff and an extra 2 dive staff (whom both have work permits and are fully legal here in thailand) because the agent did not have enough staff to safely conduct dives with 22 people. the girl in question was diving with a chinese guide from the agent which had no affiliation with the dive shop. I think the owner would be crazy to not clarify exactly what the roles were in this situation. if you had your own business you would definitely try to clarify the situation and to say otherwise is lying.

as far as the safety record for diving here in thailand, you people are just misinformed. i have been diving in the similans for the last 8 seasons. in this time there have been 7-8 scuba deaths and another 10 or so snorkeling deaths. lets round it up to 20 to make this fair. unfortunately the similans and surins average about 3-4000 people per day. yes its a crazy number and needs to be reduced but thats a post for another day. so 4000 x 210 days in a season is 840,000 people x 8 seasons = 6.7 million people. so you are telling me that 20 fatalities out of 6.7 million people proves that the industry in this country is unsafe? i challenge you to find somewhere that has comparable tourist numbers with such a low accident rate. you can go ahead and look but i doubt you will find something. unfortunately, the wise sages here at thai visa almost always end up going on a rant about how horrible thailand is. either the people or the regulations or the climate. it seems that the only thai people who are not corrupt cheating bastards are your wives (hahaha). if you think so little of this country why dont you go find somewhere else to live already?(i'm talking to you gandalf12)

in the end all i can say is that as a dive instructor we take our responsibility quite seriously. yeah we are a fun loving bunch and love being in the water and on the beach and thats why we choose to live here but we understand that we are in the water to not only show people pretty fish but to keep them safe. this is a horrible tragedy and i know it has affected the people involved quite deeply. not everyone is jaded and calloused towards the world so please stop projecting your uniformed negativity onto such a horrible situation

[goonnerone]

i find it shocking how quickly people make uniformed accusations which in an essence add up to at least gross negligence if not murder based on a poorly written newspaper article that is not exactly new york times material. the girl was in the water under 30 minutes but because of logistics and distance, by the time the coroner examined her she had been dead for 6 hours. one hour of this was while having cpr performed but to no avail. you are acting like the coroner was on the boat and delared her dead for 6 hours the second she was pulled out of the water. please have some comprehension of the logistics involved with this sort of operation or in lieu of this just shut the hell up.

as far as the thought that only one dive shop operates on one boat. this is not the case in asia and i can almost guarantee that whatever boat you may have been on, there were divers and possibly guides from other companies with you. you may not be aware of the situation because why would you bother with that sort of crap but trust me, using booking agents whom sometimes send their own guides onto another companies boat is standard procedure.

I dont understand why people have a problem with the owner stating that this was a chartered trip. the booking agent rented the boat for a private group from china. the owner provided the boat and food and fuel...thai boat staff and an extra 2 dive staff (whom both have work permits and are fully legal here in thailand) because the agent did not have enough staff to safely conduct dives with 22 people. the girl in question was diving with a chinese guide from the agent which had no affiliation with the dive shop. I think the owner would be crazy to not clarify exactly what the roles were in this situation. if you had your own business you would definitely try to clarify the situation and to say otherwise is lying.

as far as the safety record for diving here in thailand, you people are just misinformed. i have been diving in the similans for the last 8 seasons. in this time there have been 7-8 scuba deaths and another 10 or so snorkeling deaths. lets round it up to 20 to make this fair. unfortunately the similans and surins average about 3-4000 people per day. yes its a crazy number and needs to be reduced but thats a post for another day. so 4000 x 210 days in a season is 840,000 people x 8 seasons = 6.7 million people. so you are telling me that 20 fatalities out of 6.7 million people proves that the industry in this country is unsafe? i challenge you to find somewhere that has comparable tourist numbers with such a low accident rate. you can go ahead and look but i doubt you will find something. unfortunately, the wise sages here at thai visa almost always end up going on a rant about how horrible thailand is. either the people or the regulations or the climate. it seems that the only thai people who are not corrupt cheating bastards are your wives (hahaha). if you think so little of this country why dont you go find somewhere else to live already?(i'm talking to you gandalf12)

in the end all i can say is that as a dive instructor we take our responsibility quite seriously. yeah we are a fun loving bunch and love being in the water and on the beach and thats why we choose to live here but we understand that we are in the water to not only show people pretty fish but to keep them safe. this is a horrible tragedy and i know it has affected the people involved quite deeply. not everyone is jaded and calloused towards the world so please stop projecting your uniformed negativity onto such a horrible situation

well said

I worked in Thailand for 8 years as a DM/ Instructor and in that time we had 2 dive related deaths both from divers that it seems pancaked and suffered lung over expansion in both cases the DM was not to blame, ok I except that sometime the safety rules can be bent a bit but as a freelancer all the dive schools I worked with took as I do the safety of everyone very seriously. And one more thing the self righteous on this forum seem to fail as do some divers to understand that as a qualified diver you are also responsible for your own safety, As a DM I was sick to the back teeth of hearing statement from so called qualified divers that (ohh I never noticed i was running short of air. Again well said