49 missing as boat overturns in seas off Thailand

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Re: 49 missing as boat overturns in seas off Thailand

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handdrummer wrote: Sun Jul 08, 2018 8:58 pm The boats are owned and piloted buy a Chinese company operating under a Thai company. The company didn't want to go out but the Chinese tourists insisted, saying that they paid for the trip and if they couldn't go out then they wanted their money back. Via my wife watching a Thai news report. I'd like to be the lawyer in that lawsuit.

And, there is the problem, in bold and underlined.........the ALMIGHTY BAHT. Rather than issue a refund,..........no further comment. :(
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Re: 49 missing as boat overturns in seas off Thailand

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This no refund in the event of cancellation seems to be a common theme. One of things that has put me off using the Pattaya ferry so far is their website used to have a similar clause i.e. if you book, and the ferry doesn't go, you've lost your money (not checked for a while to see if the clause is still in place) . That. plus the fact you are stranded for at least a day, incurring hotel costs.

This seems to have influenced the decision to sail, so maybe the practice needs to be looked into.
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Re: 49 missing as boat overturns in seas off Thailand

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Hahaha, when was the last time you did an offshore survival course, the type which involves, among other things, being strapped to a seat in a simulated helicopter which is then submerged so that you can perform an underwater escape?
What's your problem, MATE? I did my last one when I was 62 years old, so 12 years ago, and as the saying goes:
"I have been on the one wave longer than you have been at sea"!
You are welcome to see my log book if I can find the thing.

I did my FIRST lifeboat training around 1972, in an open lifeboat, with OARS! As you well know, I worked offshore, all up around 30 years! In later years the courses were ALL STCW 95, and prior to that STCW 1978.

As for H.U.E.T., I used to fly the bloody things, all owned by myself, and overwater! Not worked in the North Sea, but Southern Ocean, both in Australia and NZ. (and Sud Efrica!) For a long time now, nobody, anywhere, can fly offshore in a helicopter without a current HUET certificate--even in Thailand.

And I stick by my post that I have never used, never mind inflated, a lifejacketin any training.
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Re: 49 missing as boat overturns in seas off Thailand

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Phuket boat tragedy shows our indifference

https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opi ... e#cxrecs_s

Forty-two is the latest number of tourists who fell victims to a boat mishap in Phuket last week. Or should I say, to be more exact, that they were victims of negligence, sheer dereliction of duty of the authorities concerned and of a "This Is Thailand" culture?

As this column went to print yesterday, 14 tourists on board the Phoenix are still missing as the search goes on. The doomed boat which was carrying 105 people, including tourists, crew and guides, sank about seven nautical miles from Ao Chalong pier in Muang district following a freak storm on July 5.

It's apparent that this tragic news has been overshadowed by the cave rescue operation. Yet I don't think we should let it slip from public scrutiny. I want to bring the matter to public attention despite cries that it will affect the image of the country and tourism because it involved a high number of tourists, all of them foreigners. I think this loss could have been prevented if only someone cared, and this makes me sadder than any economic knock-on effect.

Like many of those who followed this news, the immediate question that came to my mind when learning of the capsize was: why didn't the boat operator cancel the trip? Actually, there were two other vessels that also made the journey -- they were just luckier.

In an interview with the media, Phuket governor Norapat Plodthong insisted a warning was issued about weather conditions that day.
This information has been confirmed by deputy tourist police chief Surachate Hakparn who blamed the boat's crew for "failing to heed a weather alert". Police have pressed criminal charges against the captain for recklessness causing deaths.
Can boat operators really afford not to adhere to weather alerts as they embark on such perilous trips as if it's business as usual?

Of course, things would have been different had the boat operator cancelled the trip. The cost in lives might also have been less if the operator had provided for the right kind of life jackets, and if the tourists had been shown how to use them properly. Some experts said the kind of life jackets on board -- which may work well for a diving trip -- didn't help much in such angry seas as they tend to slip from the users' body too easily. This fact is new to me and many others, but comes too late for those unlucky tourists.

Many may blame the boat operator's greed, as cancelling such trips would mean a loss of income; some think the crew may just have wanted to please their customers, most of whom were in Thailand for a short visit and may have been upset to miss the excursion on account of the weather. But whatever the reason, the July 5 mishap demonstrates a failure on the part of authorities who allowed reckless people to toy with people's lives. And in the blink of an eye, a happy holiday turned into a nightmare.

In fact, we are more than familiar with this kind of unnecessary loss. Remember the overloaded passenger boat that sank in the Chao Phraya River in Ayutthaya, killing 28 in September 2016? The victims were pilgrims who scrambled on board after a temple service, not realising that their number was beyond the boat's capacity.

That news also caused concern which too soon faded from the public arena, another flash in the pan of concern for safety. After the usual outpouring of concern, promises to improve standards failed to materialise.

Last week, a PostBag writer complained about a Bangkok express boat carrying too many commuters, perhaps three or four times its capacity.

Is this issue new? Not at all. It has been discussed in this column quite a few times before, but the letter writer's complaint suggests that nothing has changed. I once interviewed a marine officer who conceded that the problem exists and his agency, the authorised body, had no plan to rectify it.

I dare not think how many more "unnecessary losses" we will have to endure if this "disaster waiting to happen" culture continues to be met only with shrugs of indifference from those given the responsibility of fixing it.

As I said, this only makes me sadder.
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Re: 49 missing as boat overturns in seas off Thailand

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This seems to be all the junta give a rats arse about ...

Boat tragedy ‘unlikely to hamper tourism’
The tour boat catastrophe in Phuket was unlikely to harm the Thai tourism industry, but the government must respond to it decisively, the chief economist at Siam Commercial Bank said on Monday.

In the short run, Yunyong Thaicharoen said, the government has to investigate the cause of the accident in which a dive boat sank in rough seas, leaving 42 Chinese tourists dead and another 14 missing. The government must also rebuild confidence among tourists, demonstrating that lessons were learned from this tragedy and steps taken to prevent a recurrence, he suggested. No pre-booked tours have been cancelled since the accident, but it is now low tourist season, Yunyong noted.

He said Thailand would likely welcome 38.2 million foreign visitors this year, up 8 per cent over 2017. Tourism grew by 13 per cent in the first five months of this year and 27 per cent among Chinese travellers.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/ ... s/30349640


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Re: 49 missing as boat overturns in seas off Thailand

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This vessel is big enough to carry 105 passengers. Strong wind and rough sea are not to blame, not even what somebody (takiap)call sick addiction to Bhat.
If those Chins were wearing life jackets, means they could not swim.
If people are splashed by high waves, on one side of the vessel, most of them will move to the opposite side, that will make the vessel unstable, leaning to one side. One or two more high waves (they say 5m. high waves) will definitely overturn the vessel and will sink very fast.
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Re: 49 missing as boat overturns in seas off Thailand

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All they are good at is shifting the blame:
...................................................................................................
Search for Phoenix victims continues near Phuket

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... recent_box

PHUKET: The search for victims of the Pheonix sinking continued on Monday with patrols on beaches and an attempt to clear sand from the sunken boat and retrieve another body.

Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat said Monday that divers would use portable blowers to move away the sand so they could get to the dead Chinese passenger trapped under the Phoenix, which sank in storm-tossed seas near Koh He last Thursday. It would be the 42nd body recovered by searchers.

He also said that if officials could turn the boat upright, more bodies might float and then be collected.
Officials from many organisations were also making air, sea and land patrols, looking for still-missing victims.

Mr Weerasak said they were hoping to find the bodies on the surface before they sank again, when the task would be made more difficult.

Police said six people were still unaccounted for as of Monday morning.

The Phoenix capsized and sank with 105 people aboard, mostly Chinese tourists, on July 5. Another tour boat and a jet ski also capsized off Phuket that day, but all 43 people on them were rescued.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon on Monday blamed the Chinese operators of the Phoenix for the tragedy. They had brought Chinese tourists to the boat and defied local officials' orders to suspend marine tours that day because of the rough seas, he said.

Authorities were taking legal action against Chinese tour companies operating through Thai proxies, Gen Prawit said.
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Re: 49 missing as boat overturns in seas off Thailand

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Search for Phuket boat victims suspended

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... recent_box


PHUKET: Rough seas and high winds forced the suspension on Monday afternoon of the search for more bodies from the tour boat that sank off the coast of Phuket on Thursday.

Lt Cdr Sawapas Sathitsathian, commander of HTMS Hua Hin, said HTMS Chao Phraya surveyed the sea off Phuket and reported conditions were not suitable to continue the search for the missing tourists.

"When the weather improves, the operation will resume to find the missing and dead people," he said.
"The search plan remains in place for divers to use blowers to clear sand from under the sunken boat Phoenix, where a body is trapped, and a way will be found to change the upright orientation of the sunken vessel to allow a thorough examination."

The Phoenix capsized and sank in high seas with 89 tourists on board, 87 of them Chinese, last Thursday. Searchers have found 42 bodies. The number of passengers was previously given as 105, but has been revised by officials.
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Re: 49 missing as boat overturns in seas off Thailand

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Three more bodies found, three still missing

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... recent_box

Three more bodies have been found in the sea, not far from the sinking site of a tour boat, bringing the death toll of to 44. Three remain missing.

Phuket governor Norapat Plodthong on Tuesday said two of the three bodies were sent to Vachira Phuket Hospital for verification whether they were victims of the ill-fated Phoenix that sank off the coast of Phuket last Thursday.

The number of the tourists still missing remained at three, said the governor, adding provincial authorities have closely worked with the Chinese Consulate to identify the deceased Chinese tourists and those who went missing. The death toll rose to 44, including one still trapped under the wreckage.

Thirty-seven bodies have been identified, 33 by their relatives, said Mr Norapat.

Funeral rites were held at Wat Khosit Viharn temple, said the governor during a media briefing on Tuesday.

The Phoenix went down in high seas on Thursday off the west-coast island of Phuket with 101 people on board, including 89 tourists, all but two were from China, and 12 crew members, during an outing to a small island for snorkelling.

Third Naval Area commander Vice Adm Somnuek Prempramote said two of the three bodies were found by a fishing vessel between two islands -- Koh Mai Thon and Koh -- not far from the sinking site of the tour boat.

The third body, found at Koh Phi Phi in Krabi, was picked up by HTMS Long Lom.

Navy divers and the Chinese diving team would discuss the operation to salvage the Phoenix, said Vice Adm Somnuek. However, there were strong winds at this time.
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Re: 49 missing as boat overturns in seas off Thailand

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Hmm, maybe. I have still yet to see any mention of either the length of the boat, or how many it was licenced to carry.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
How freak wave capsized Thai tourist ship killing at least 44

https://au.news.yahoo.com/chilling-vide ... 01892.html

A new animation shows how 44 people on board a luxury tourist boat were killed near Thailand’s holiday island of Phuket last week.
The Phoenix tourist boat, carrying 101 people including 87 Chinese tourists, went down in rough seas on Thursday during an outing to a small island.

Forty-four people have been confirmed dead, officials said on Tuesday, making it Thailand’s worst tourist-related disaster in years and underscoring safety concerns about the industry.

On Wednesday, Reuters news agency shared a video graphic depicting how the ship capsized after it was engulfed by a 16-foot-wave.

Divers sent to check on the sunken vessel found that many of the deceased had been trapped in the lower level.
Fifty-four people survived the crash, with authorities confirming that they will continue the search for three missing people if weather permits.

“The wind is quite strong,” said Somnuek, adding that plans to lift the sunken vessel were on hold.
“On moving the boat to see whether there are bodies underneath … this task will need to be assessed to see if it affects evidence in this case. We will continue to consider this option,” he said.

The captain of the Phoenix has been charged with negligence causing death, police said.
He has denied the charges.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha visited Phuket on Thursday and comforted some of the relatives.
Two other boats capsized in the same area on Thursday but their passengers were brought safely to shore.
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Re: 49 missing as boat overturns in seas off Thailand

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So why were they permitted to operate? Oh yes, that's right, forgot TIT.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Tour boats that sank off Phuket substandard, say police

https://www.bangkokpost.com/travel/in-t ... recent_box

Two tour operators linked to vessels that foundered in rough seas off Phuket last week, causing many deaths, provided substandard boats and life vests, and were in violation of company ownership laws, the Tourist Police Bureau charged on Wednesday.

TC Blue Dream Ltd is "linked to" the deaths of 44 Chinese tourists who were on board the ill-fated Phoenix snorkelling boat last Thursday, while Lazy Cat Travel is "associated with" the Sereniga, which sank the same day although all crew and passengers were rescued, deputy Tourist Bureau chief Surachate Hakparn said on Wednesdsay.

An inspection at the dock in Phuket where Phoenix was believed to have been built found the boat fell short of safety standards, which affected its engines and water pumps, according to investigators who cited information obtained from a worker involved in the vessel's construction.

An engine from a 10 wheel truck was adapted and installed in the boat, which was not standard and posed a risk. The water pump was also found to be smaller than the standard requirement.

Police also found irregularities when they raided TC Blue Dream Ltd that raised doubts about its legal ownership.
The office was a "temporary" structure, which suggested it may be illegally operated by Thai nominees on behalf of Chinese businessmen based in China, Pol Maj Gen Surachate said.

A check of documents at TC Blue Dream Ltd also raised suspicions about money transfers out of Thailand, backing an assumption of illegal company ownership, according to the Anti-Money Laundering Office, which joined the tourist police operation on Tuesday that covered 11 targets.

At Lazy Cat Travel investigators found many items imported without payment of customs tariffs, and life vests that were not certified by the Thai Industrial Standard Institute, Pol Maj Gen Surachate said.

The life vests were claimed to be made in Nakhon Ratchasima, but an inspection found they came from Lop Buri, he said.

During the operation, police arrested Itthirot Chawanphitalk and a Chinese man on forest encroachment and tax avoidance charges.

Mr Itthirot runs Water Beach Club, a bar allegedly built on sor por kor land, which is degraded forest reserved for agricultural purposes.

He is also former manager of Tranlee Travel and believed to have connections with Lazy Cat Travel, according to the Tourist Police Bureau.
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Re: 49 missing as boat overturns in seas off Thailand

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In summary--everything about this boat was a total f***-up. As usual there are standards and regulations but nobody is enforcing them.
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Re: 49 missing as boat overturns in seas off Thailand

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Phuket hit as Chinese cancel room bookings
Tourism industry seeks tough measures to protect reputation after boat tragedy

THAI TOURISM authorities are worried following the massive cancellations of hotel room bookings by Chinese tourists in the southern island resort of Phuket following the tragic July 5 boat accident. So far, 7,300 Phuket hotel room bookings for July and August have been cancelled by Chinese tourists.

Industry insiders say the numbers are likely to increase as more hotels report their booking status. Chinese account for as many as 3 million tourists in Phuket per year, while on average some 10 million Chinese tourists visit Thailand every year. Kongsak Kupongsakorn, president of the Southern Hoteliers’ Association, said 19 member hotels had already reported their cancellations while another 160 hotels have yet to file their reports.

The negative impacts of the July 5 accident in which nearly 50 were killed are widespread and more serious than previously thought, he said.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/ ... l/30350125
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Re: 49 missing as boat overturns in seas off Thailand

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Sunken boat raised:

Can safety standards be salvaged?

https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opi ... -salvaged-

Are we supposed to be in shock? Or has shoddiness become the standard for investigations into major accidents so there is no need to feel perturbed?

An initial finding from a probe into what caused the Phoenix tour boat to sink and kill dozens of Chinese tourists off Phuket's coast in July indicated the vessel had not been built to standard.

This is an 11-million-baht double-decker weighing 287 gross tonnes we are talking about, not some small boat that works the canals. It's a seagoing vessel that is supposed to carry more than a hundred passengers, safely too, as it was properly registered and licensed.

How could such a public service vessel have so many inherent flaws that were never detected?

Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat recently revealed that the Phoenix was powered by an adapted engine from a 10-wheel truck, which posed a risk. Its water pipe was also found to be smaller than the standard required.(an "adapted" truck engine had nothing to do with it sinking)

more at link.................................................>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
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Re: 49 missing as boat overturns in seas off Thailand

Post by europtimiste »

Boat was just raised and somebody pretend not to been built to standard. How can this be pretended just hours after salvage ???????
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