A tour boat seized for bring foreign tourists to an off-limit island off Sattahip

 

 

The skipper of a tourist boat and his mechanic were held in the custody of the naval officers on charges of intrusion after they took over 200 Russian tourists to Koh Rin island which was declared off-limits to outsiders.

 

The Royal Thai Navy dispatched a patrol boat from Sattahip naval base to Koh Rin after it was reported that a tourist boat had brought a large group of foreign tourists to the island.

 

Naval officers found the tourist boat, named Close Vita, anchoring in the sea a short distance from the island with several tourists being offloaded on a small boat to head for the beach where another large group of foreign tourists were playing beach volley ball, sunbathing or swimming.

 

The officers held the skipper, identified only as Pongsakorn, and the mechanic, Chatupong, and ordered all the temporary structures erected on the island dismantled.

 

Full Story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/tour-boat-seized-bring-foreign-tourists-off-limit-island-off-sattahip/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-2-1

Thank goodness they were Russkie tourists.  Of the tourists, they probably understand "off limits military installations" better than most.  

 

Had they been refugees from the former commonwealth (like myself), I could envision all kinds of righteous indignation all over the social media... 

If they had their new shiny submarines they could have practiced torpedoing them   

Wonder what the military is doing out on the islands that requires them to be "off-limits"? Driving ranges???

 

8 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

If they had their new shiny submarines they could have practiced torpedoing them   

The subs on order are mis-fits and not capable of carrying any sort of weaponry,hence the cheap deal for them

Well the boat owners were warned not to go there, but as with everything else in Thailand, rules are only for one day, then its do what you want again, except that this day they were caught.

Well done the army.

 

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Wonder what the military is doing out on the islands that requires them to be "off-limits"? Driving ranges???

 

Simple.

It is a live firing range for the Royal Thai Navy. Risk of unexploded shells.

Quote

Coastal Defense Battalion 12 used the occasion to fire eight 155mm Chinese artillery shells on an arced trajectory, aiming and tracking the projectiles with a Raytheon Pathfinder MK targeting system and Thales Group BOR A-550 portable radar system. Shells were fired over a distance of 17 kilometers at the island’s “Big Rock,” a popular scuba diving site littered with unexploded shells that frequently miss the island.

 

 

2 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Wonder what the military is doing out on the islands that requires them to be "off-limits"? Driving ranges???

 

Or swallow caves ...?