Tourists jump for their lives after boat explodes in Andaman sea

[webfact]

Tourists jump for their lives after boat explodes in Andaman sea

 

Picture: Daily News

 

SATUN: -- Twenty five tourists jumped into the sea after a boat taking them on a diving trip in the south exploded in the Andaman sea yesterday.

 

The captain of the "Jaran Tour 3" Charoen Noomee, 60, said that there was a sudden explosion mid afternoon as he was taking the tourists from Koh Lipe to Koh Rork.

 

Picture: Daily News

 

A fire erupted and spread quickly throughout the boat and everyone had to jump into the sea. A passing boat rescued everyone and took them to the island of Booloan where they were later picked up by water police and taken to Satun.

 

There were 18 foreign tourists and 7 Thais on the boat and everyone was now safe.

 

Source: Daily News

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-01-24

[smedly]

I will guess a gas leak in an enclosed space below, just more of Thailands stellar safety standards

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Tourists leap into sea to escape flaming diving boat

By Teeranai Charuvastra, Staff Reporter

 

SATUN — A diving trip in the pristine sea near a world-renowned island turned into a survival nightmare for 18 tourists Monday afternoon when their boat caught fire, forcing them to leave everything behind and swim for their lives.

 

Although all the tourists and boat crew were safely rescued, most of the visitors are now stranded without passports in Satun province after their Koh Lipe diving trip went awry. Police are debating which station has jurisdiction over the case, which one officer described as a possible case of negligence.

 

Nipon Kongkwan, chief of La-Ngu Police Station, said the captain of the Charan Tour boat told him the incident happened when the crew was filling oxygen tanks for a dive. They did so too close to an inflammable material, and an accidental spark lit up flames that soon spread across the boat too quickly for the tourists to do anything but leap free.

 

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/crimecourtscalamity/2017/01/24/tourists-leap-sea-escape-flaming-diving-boat/

 

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2017-01-24

 

[clockman]

Never say Thailand, and safety in the same sentence!

[impulse]

Charan Tour is expected to file criminal charges against the crew over the incident, but was unable to do so because the boat sank in waters where the jurisdiction of three police stations meet, so officers could not agree which unit is responsible for investigating.

 

Nipon said he wouldn’t mind taking the case if the company decided to file charges at his station.

 

That's a little disturbing, that the tour company will be filing charges against their employees.  My guess is that doesn't bode well for compensation for the victims.  The ones that didn't own the boat, anyway.

[skorp13]

Scary incident, glad to hear everyone was safe

[elgordo38]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

Charan Tour is expected to file criminal charges against the crew over the incident, but was unable to do so because the boat sank in waters where the jurisdiction of three police stations meet, so officers could not agree which unit is responsible for investigating.

 

Nipon said he wouldn’t mind taking the case if the company decided to file charges at his station.

 

That's a little disturbing, that the tour company will be filing charges against their employees.  My guess is that doesn't bode well for compensation for the victims.  The ones that didn't own the boat, anyway.

Lets draw straws guy and move it along. Charan Tours should be ducking right about now as they hired this guy without any inspection or check of his safety record if there is such a thing here. 

[jlwilliamsjr18]

Hmmm...I smell smoke.

[Deli]

1 hour ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

Tourists leap into sea to escape flaming diving boat

By Teeranai Charuvastra, Staff Reporter

 

SATUN — A diving trip in the pristine sea near a world-renowned island turned into a survival nightmare for 18 tourists Monday afternoon when their boat caught fire, forcing them to leave everything behind and swim for their lives.

 

Although all the tourists and boat crew were safely rescued, most of the visitors are now stranded without passports in Satun province after their Koh Lipe diving trip went awry. Police are debating which station has jurisdiction over the case, which one officer described as a possible case of negligence.

 

Nipon Kongkwan, chief of La-Ngu Police Station, said the captain of the Charan Tour boat told him the incident happened when the crew was filling oxygen tanks for a dive. They did so too close to an inflammable material, and an accidental spark lit up flames that soon spread across the boat too quickly for the tourists to do anything but leap free.

 

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/crimecourtscalamity/2017/01/24/tourists-leap-sea-escape-flaming-diving-boat/

 

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2017-01-24

 

The story about that the tamp filling is bull, as you don't handle with pure oxygen, unless you blend manually EANx. And I doubt that they did this on a boat like that.

Gimme another story more credible... but who cares in the end ?

 

 

Edited January 24, 2017 by Deli
amendment

[nakhonandy]

16 minutes ago, Deli said:

The story about that the tamp filling is bull, as you don't handle with pure oxygen, unless you blend manually EANx. And I doubt that they did this on a boat like that.

Gimme another story more credible... but who cares in the end ?

 

 

Tec diving boat maybe.

 

Common around Lipe.

 

Then it's possible.

 

Stupid useless gas blenders though.

[NextStationBangkok]

Great to know all safe!

 

Best option is wear the life jackets all the time in the sea. I usually do it for the own safety.

[lvr181]

4 hours ago, smedly said:

I will guess a gas leak in an enclosed space below, just more of Thailands stellar safety standards

Mmmm............what are "safety standards"?

[Shawn0000]

2 hours ago, impulse said:

Charan Tour is expected to file criminal charges against the crew over the incident, but was unable to do so because the boat sank in waters where the jurisdiction of three police stations meet, so officers could not agree which unit is responsible for investigating.

 

Nipon said he wouldn’t mind taking the case if the company decided to file charges at his station.

 

That's a little disturbing, that the tour company will be filing charges against their employees.  My guess is that doesn't bode well for compensation for the victims.  The ones that didn't own the boat, anyway.

 

The crew burned their boat down through negligence, why would the owner not be able to press charges?  And what compensation for the "victims" who are actually all OK.

[catinthehat]

32 minutes ago, lvr181 said:

Mmmm............what are "safety standards"?

You have got to be joking!!!  And no mention of compensation for the tourists. Hope they ALL share their stories far and wide. Sooner or later TAT will be able to count the anticipated tourist arrivals on both hands and feet.

[weegee]

Under International Maritime Organization rules , The company who the vessel is owned by, and registered too, is RESPONSIBLE for any Compliances, with regard to Safety, Certified Crew, and Insurances. 

You CANNOT sue the crew....They are dealt with under Maritime Law, which is a different matter altogether.

 

 

[soalbundy]

Thailand where you get more bang for your buck,on or off shore. They will laugh about this in years to come, remember when we had to jump in the sea and all our money got lost, the camera's and iphones were ruined and we had to try and get new passports, looking back it was so funny, next year we are staying in Europe.

[Gandtee]

59 minutes ago, weegee said:

Under International Maritime Organization rules , The company who the vessel is owned by, and registered too, is RESPONSIBLE for any Compliances, with regard to Safety, Certified Crew, and Insurances. 

You CANNOT sue the crew....They are dealt with under Maritime Law, which is a different matter altogether.

 

 

But this is Thailand.

[Xonax]

2 hours ago, Deli said:

The story about that the tamp filling is bull, as you don't handle with pure oxygen, unless you blend manually EANx. And I doubt that they did this on a boat like that.

Gimme another story more credible... but who cares in the end ?

 

 

http://miningquiz.com/pdf/Hazardous_Materials/DON'T_MIX_OXYGEN_AND_OIL.pdf

 

[Geoff Snell]

I bought a boat once and ran it out of Ranong and later Chalong. When I used to see the punters drinking at the back of the boat it was nice to see them having a good time. Then naturally one would have to light up a cigarette and possibly my boat. I guess what can you say. It's just the way of the world.

[soalbundy]

1 hour ago, catinthehat said:

You have got to be joking!!!  And no mention of compensation for the tourists. Hope they ALL share their stories far and wide. Sooner or later TAT will be able to count the anticipated tourist arrivals on both hands and feet.

They do that now and multiply it by 500k. TAT is so successful that they are extending the visa free program despite the millions of bookings that they have.

[hotchilli]

Most scuba divers use tanks filled with simple air, filtered & dehumidified.

This is the safe & standard medium within normal recreational diving limits.
Breathing other gases or exceeding depth/time limits requires the use of specialised gas mixtures, primarily Nitrox,Trimix & Oxygen.

However "oxygen" even at a few metres over a prolonged period is toxic & fatal!!
Unless they were specialised divers with a lot of experience then I would guess the fire was triggered by a fuel or gas leak of some description!

[HarrySeaman]

Dive tanks are filled with filtered, dehumidified, compressed air, unless it is mixed gases for technical diving.

 

Rare is the non-live aboard dive boat that has a compressor to fill tanks.  Tanks are filled on land because the gear needed just to fill tanks for compressed air diving is simply too big and complex for any small boat - and yes, a boat for 18 divers is still a small boat.

 

Mixed gas tank filling is simply too complex for anything less than land or a large ship so forget that. 

 

Dive gasses had nothing to do with the fire and tank filling on the boat is a fantasy.  It was as Geoff Snell said, some idiot that was addicted to tobacco couldn't do without a cigarette for more than 5 minutes and tossed the still lit butt carelessly into some flammable material that wouldn't have been there in any well run boat.

 

Split the blame between the dive boat and the addict with the cigarette.

[Charlie1]

4 hours ago, Deli said:

The story about that the tamp filling is bull, as you don't handle with pure oxygen, unless you blend manually EANx. And I doubt that they did this on a boat like that.

Gimme another story more credible... but who cares in the end ?

 

 

Even when you hold a flame at an opened oxygen bottle, nothing happens at all. Done that.

[amykat]

3 hours ago, Shawn0000 said:

 

The crew burned their boat down through negligence, why would the owner not be able to press charges?  And what compensation for the "victims" who are actually all OK.

 

Because it is not CRIMINAL to be NEGLIGENT. It is a tort  ..unless of course we are talking about criminal negligence but we are not.

 

This would handled in civil law. The owner of the boat is responsible for the negligence of his employees. It isn't clear to me if that tour company is the owner of the boat? If they are, they may be trying to avoid responsibility by saying it was a criminal act rather than a negligent act?

Edited January 24, 2017 by amykat

[gregk0543]

The compensation for the tourists is they are alive. I would take that as a good compensation any day of my life.

 

[Shawn0000]

1 hour ago, amykat said:

 

Because it is not CRIMINAL to be NEGLIGENT. It is a tort  ..unless of course we are talking about criminal negligence but we are not.

 

This would handled in civil law. The owner of the boat is responsible for the negligence of his employees. It isn't clear to me if that tour company is the owner of the boat? If they are, they may be trying to avoid responsibility by saying it was a criminal act rather than a negligent act?

 

I thought captains of boats had full responsibility of the vessel not the owner, I could be wrong though.

 

And I am not sure of the Thai law on this, are you?

 

Here is a definition of criminal negligence:

 

Criminal negligence is a 'misfeasance or 'nonfeasance', where the fault lies in the failure to foresee and so allow otherwise avoidable dangers to manifest.

 

 

 

[Brer Fox]

What is surprising is that there were no fatalities which beggars belief.

[soalbundy]

1 minute ago, Brer Fox said:

What is surprising is that there were no fatalities which beggars belief.

There may have been but they don't like to talk about it

[amykat]

57 minutes ago, Shawn0000 said:

 

I thought captains of boats had full responsibility of the vessel not the owner, I could be wrong though.

 

And I am not sure of the Thai law on this, are you?

 

Here is a definition of criminal negligence:

 

Criminal negligence is a 'misfeasance or 'nonfeasance', where the fault lies in the failure to foresee and so allow otherwise avoidable dangers to manifest.

 

 

 

I am just speaking in terms of general law not Thai law specifically. Generally these basic things hold true.

 

As a boat captain, you are an employee of the boat owner. Or of somebody.  You are thinking of responsibility of other things, re the captain of a boat. 

 

Criminal negligence is usually an offense that results in a death, such as in a motor vehicle, like drunk driving.

 

Or if I do something very stupid that I can be sure would result in death. For example, I tell you to go stand there and put a cherry on your head and that I will attempt to shoot it off with a gun. Then I do it and kill you.

 

What you stated above could be also, but it depends on the circumstances and the duty.

 

I'm not sure that some low level Thai employees had this duty, as we know even a boat captain is a low level, non trained person here.  So this is complicated.  As I said, I think it is just a way for the company to try to avoid liability in some way. There were no deaths also so why would they arrest them?  But I could be wrong.

 

 

 

 

[Get Real]

11 hours ago, lvr181 said:

Mmmm............what are "safety standards"?

Second to none!