At least thirteen drowned and several missing in boat accident in Chao Phraya river

 

 

AYUTTHAYA: -- At least thirteen people drowned and several went missing after a double-deck boat carrying about 100 passengers from Nonthaburi to Ayutthaya for an annual Islamic religious ceremony collided with a dike in the Chao Phraya river near Wat Sanamchai in Ayutthaya province Sunday afternoon.

 

Reports said that there were altogether four boats in a procession from Talad Kwan in Nonthaburi province to Takai masjid in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district for the ceremony.

 

The boats were on their way back to Nonthaburi when the leading boat struck a dike in front of Wat Sanamchai and slowly went down in vertical position.

 

The ill-fated boat was carrying about 100 passengers.

 

Rescue boats and fire-fighting vessels were rushed to the scene to pluck passengers from the sinking boat and from the river. The fate of the missing passengers remains unkown as rescue workers scoured the river in search of bodies and survivors.

 

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/at-least-thirteen-drowned-and-several-missing-in-boat-accident-in-chao-phraya-river/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2016-09-18

Amazing how, by looking at the pic, that 13 people could drowned when the boat is only semi submerged and only a few metres from the bank. 

5 minutes ago, coma said:

Amazing how, by looking at the pic, that 13 people could drowned when the boat is only semi submerged and only a few metres from the bank. 

If they were unfortunate enough to have been below deck under water not surprising and the current is quite strong too.

Some photos of the scene:-

Absolutely diabolical, how on earth should people be drowning in circumstances like this. Just awful, condolences to the families. Will be interesting to see what the crew / captain actually did and how this affected the outcome

I don't think they were all wearing life vests.

Very sad, RIP.

Reading the Thai newspaper online. It doesn't say anything about nationalities of the deceased. But by looking at the photos there sure does appear to be foreigners amongst the passengers.

14 minutes ago, ratcatcher said:

If they were unfortunate enough to have been below deck under water not surprising and the current is quite strong too.

 

And that typical [for this part of the world] lack of ability to swim.

It is absolutely shocking how few people in Thailand know how to swim.  While I realize that the current might have been fairly  strong there, I'm fairly sure that any half-way trained swimmer could manage to paddle to within grabbing distance of the river bank.

 

A strong swimmer, like myself, could easily have swum out to the boat and towed people back to shore.  I didn't see any of the crowd on the shore trying to do that!

8 minutes ago, sharecropper said:

I don't think they were all wearing life vests.

You don't want to wear one if you sits inside a boat/ship, the buoyancy will make it impossible to swim out.

 

When I sail with those ferries anywhere in SEA, I sit outside or near an exit. As a professional seaman for over 30 years I am shocked about the state of the ferries I seen.

 

The state of the boat/ship more often than not reflects the professionalism of the crew. 

"At least thirteen people drowned and several went missing ..."

 

Difficult to believe, since I am sure that the crew made sure everyone was wearing adequate life jackets and there was a safety demonstration before the boat left the shore. Most likely this tragedy will not be blamed on lack of safety requirements. Just bad luck.

 

 

Edited September 18, 20169 yr by jaltsc

This reminds me of the Marchioness disaster on the river Thames, London, 1989 when 51 people lost their lives.

Of the dead, 24 were recovered from the sunken hull. Most of the survivors were on the upper decks at the time of the collision.

This is probably the cause of the deaths this time. As ratcatcher pointed out before.

Reminds me of when the pier in Bangkok overturned killing 21 in 1995.

 

 

Edited September 18, 20169 yr by Morakot

55 minutes ago, coma said:

Reading the Thai newspaper online. It doesn't say anything about nationalities of the deceased. But by looking at the photos there sure does appear to be foreigners amongst the passengers.

They were mostly Thai Muslims visiting a mosque in Ayuttaya, perhaps their traditional garb gives them a 'foreign' appearance.

RIP.  

 

A lot of people can't swim a lick and panic when falling in water that gets around chest high.   Although the boat sank in shallow water it looks like the water was at least 2 meters deep where it sank...more than enough for adults/children who are probably around 1.5 to 1.7 meters (or less) in height to drown.  Plus there are currents in the river that probably pulled people to deeper water...plus a person would sink into the river bottom mud a little making it even tougher to keep your head above water.

Edited September 18, 20169 yr by Pib

2 hours ago, coma said:

Amazing how, by looking at the pic, that 13 people could drowned when the boat is only semi submerged and only a few metres from the bank. 

 

Maybe they jumped into the river and were pulled under by the current or swept away. One of them was a child apparently.

 

People forget the current of the chao praya these days it is strong, stronger then any Olympic swimmer can compete against at times and the water was at least 2m deep where it sank. Difficult to get out safely even for experienced swimmers. It's a sad tragedy and one can only hope that justice will be done to the people who are to blame

Smartphone Footage Of Boat Capsiizing Near Wat Sanamchai In Ayuthaya.

5 minutes ago, Wilsonandson said:

Smartphone Footage Of Boat Capsiizing Near Wat Sanamchai In Ayuthaya.

 

That vessel was certainly moving downstream at a good rate of knots. The river is in flood at the moment. Captain obviously unqualified. 

It will be interesting to see the final death toll. A very sad day for so many families.

Deplorable...

 

What appears to be crew and rescuers are the only ones wearing life vests, some people more keen to salvage belongings from  a half submerged stern cabin the help passengers off the boat.

 

I am not one who thinks passengers must always wear a life jacket while on a boat but there should be more life vests than crew and passengers sowed so they can be handed out quickly.

 

On any boat where the journey is more then just a quick ferry trip for all passengers there should be a safety induction showing how to put on a life vest.

There are 19 people confirmed dead so far. This is on the Thai media sites. As of 10pm tonight 19 people have drown.

R.I.P

Amazing how, by looking at the pic, that 13 people could drowned when the boat is only semi submerged and only a few metres from the bank. 

Most can't swim.

1 hour ago, ratcatcher said:

That vessel was certainly moving downstream at a good rate of knots. The river is in flood at the moment. Captain obviously unqualified. 

It will be interesting to see the final death toll. A very sad day for so many families.

 

36 minutes ago, roo860 said:

Most can't swim.

 

That video showed it only took a couple seconds for the boat to go down and settle on the bottom after hitting the embankment. No one on the bottom level not sitting near an opening stood a chance. No matter how many lifevests would have been on board. I blame this accident most on the design of the boat. 

Amazing how, by looking at the pic, that 13 people could drowned when the boat is only semi submerged and only a few metres from the bank. 

Trapped below deck, cannot swim, swept away in the river. Easy drowned.

Was reported boat maximum capacity was 50 people, were around a 100 on board.

 

 

Extremely sad, but as we all know, nothing will change.....

 

Carnage continues on a daily basis.....

 

 

Many killed in Chao Phraya boat tragedy

The Nation 

 

A big crowd watches rescue operations on the boat which capsized in the Chao Phraya River in Ayutthaya’s Muang district yesterday.

 

At least 13 fatalities confirmed, dozens missing as overloaded boat rams into pole

 

AYUTTHAYA: -- A BOAT being used for a religious trip capsized in the Chao Phraya River yesterday afternoon, claiming at least 13 lives, injuring 19 others and leaving dozens of others unaccounted for. 

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Many-killed-in-Chao-Phraya-boat-tragedy-30295640.html

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2016-09-19