Dive boat sank off Phuket Thailand today (6/7/05)

[MoonWrasse]

Diveboat sinks: one believed dead

PHUKET: It is believed that at least one person died when a diveboat capsized and sank 40 kilometers off the coast of Phuket in a storm this morning.

Details are still sketchy but the Gazette understands that the 20-meter boat, from Khao Lak-based dive business Bubble Blue, was travelling from Phuket to the Similan Islands when it was hit by a four-meter wave at around 8 am.

At least one person on board, a woman tourist named as Sukonthapan Weerawan, is said to have died.

It is thought that there were 13 passengers and five crew on board at the time.

A police boat and a navy boat were sent to the scene after the alert was raised – at 12.50 pm – and Capt Kiatkul Suwan, Commander Officer of Naval Air Section Third Area Command, told the Gazette that a helicopter was also sent to the scene.

Capt Kiatkul said the helicopter had been kept on standby until 5.30 pm, but did not pick anyone up, and it then had to be sent to Cape Panwa, where another boat had sunk.

He added that the Royal Thai Navy vessel Kamronsin was put on standby during the day between Koh Similan and Koh Surin, but returned to Phuket just after 6 pm.


http://www.phuketgazette.net/news/index.asp?id=4338

 

[Vie]

Was this the boat that sank?

http://www.bubblebluescuba.com/index.php?file=liveboard

 

[Batfish]

I never even heard of this boat.

What the hell were they doing going out to Similan in this weather? The same day the weather was so bad several aircraft had to abandon landings at Phuket Airport due to the weather. (See the next story in Phuketgazette.net) - at the end of that story it says "operators of small boats were urged to stay ashore."

Trips to the Similan Islands in the summer are safe if people just take a look at the weather. Not at all sensible to go in heavy seas. From Khao Lak (Thap Lamu pier) it's 35 nautical miles (65km) across open sea. Booking customers is a risk, the trip may have to be cancelled. But better to cancel than risk everything and go out in bad weather.

Not the first thing I wanted to read this morning.

 

[stevenl]

The boat just came from the ship yard in Phuket, that is why they sailed from Phuket to the Similans in stead of from Khao Lak. Why they decided to sail to the Similans plus take tourists, I don't know. The boat apparently sank to the South of Island # 1.

 

[Ringo]

I never even heard of this boat.

What the hell were they doing going out to Similan in this weather? The same day the weather was so bad several aircraft had to abandon landings at Phuket Airport due to the weather. (See the next story in Phuketgazette.net) - at the end of that story it says "operators of small boats were urged to stay ashore."

Trips to the Similan Islands in the summer are safe if people just take a look at the weather. Not at all sensible to go in heavy seas. From Khao Lak (Thap Lamu pier) it's 35 nautical miles (65km) across open sea. Booking customers is a risk, the trip may have to be cancelled. But better to cancel than risk everything and go out in bad weather.

Not the first thing I wanted to read this morning.

Like you Sunrise - never heard of this boat until yesterday! Horrifying to know that this operator from Khao Luk continued on this trip during such weather conditions. Once again this proves that this handful of greedy operators have only 1 concern. And that unfortunately is not safety!!!

 

[MoonWrasse]

Was this the boat that sank?

http://www.bubblebluescuba.com/index.php?file=liveboard

That fits the description. A 4 meter wave would hit about the upper deck by the looks of it. I can't imagine diving in such choppy weather.

Interesting though, when the tsunami hit, the only big waves were near the shore, while during a storm you can expect big waves at times throughout the sea.

 

[Asian Diver]

Hi Everyone - this is my first posting so please be gentle with me....
I would like to know why this boat - Bubbleblue?? left port when the Thai authorities had clearly advised against it.Unfortunately Thailand has recieved negative press again as I remember another ferry boat and dive boat sinking this year???
This year I too had planned on coming to Phuket and dive the Similan National Park, although correct me if I am mistaken but I thought the Park is closed until October.
If this is the case then not only the boat operators are guilty but also the diveshops who book people on these trips.
From this and the previously mentioned incidents I will be very careful in whom I book my holiday with this year.

 

[MoonWrasse]

Hi Everyone - this is my first posting so please be gentle with me....
I would like to know why this boat - Bubbleblue?? left port when the Thai authorities had clearly advised against it.Unfortunately Thailand has recieved negative press again as I remember another ferry boat and dive boat sinking this year???
This year I too had planned on coming to Phuket and dive the Similan National Park, although correct me if I am mistaken but I thought the Park is closed until October.
If this is the case then not only the boat operators are guilty but also the diveshops who book people on these trips.
From this and the previously mentioned incidents I will be very careful in whom I book my holiday with this year.

I think you have to treat each incident separately. This boat sank in rough waters (4 meter waves). The other recent dive boat which sank (another thread here) sank in calm water, I've not heard a reason why as of yet.
The ferry you refer to was overloaded, sank during a freak storm which caused sudden high waves on an otherwise calm sea/ day.

The good news is that they say disasters occur in threes. So it's all over now

 

[stevenl]

The National Park is closed, correct, but that does not mean diving is not allowed. It only means people are not allowed to stay on the islands any more. Diving is allwoed the whole year, and diveoperators are going the whole year. Most operators though make sure the weather is ok before they go out, for some reason Bubble Blue, a complete unknown to apparantly everybody on this forum, and most of us are pretty well informed, did not do that.

The other diveboat that sank is completely unrelated to this incident. She was moored in the area of Richelieu Rock, when for (at least to me at this moment) un unknown reason she without warning suddenly sank, there seems to have been no hit or something.

Ferries that sink: does happen, this year I remember 2 boats, one from Koh Yao to Phuket and one from Koh Phangan to Samui. Both boats were overloaded, and the former one for sure experienced bad weather. It is no excuse, but this is Thailand, and these things do happen, so yes, make sure you book with a reputable operator.

 

[MoonWrasse]

Here's the thread about the other dive boat which sank:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=93846

About the ferrys which sank - they were overloaded not just a bit, but 2x-3x the posted passanger limit.

Ferry death toll rises to nine

KOH YAO: Nine people drowned when the overloaded passenger ferry Rungroj capsized and sank in heavy seas off Naka Island Saturday afternoon. One person is still missing.

Of the nine dead, five were children and three others were women.

The 13-meter vessel had left Bang Rong pier in Thalang District and was bound for Koh Yao Noi at about 3 pm when it was pummeled by waves whipped up in Saturday afternoon’s sudden rains and heavy winds.

An official at Koh Yao Hospital told the Gazette that the confirmed death toll reached nine when rescue workers this morning pulled the body of 14-year-old schoolgirl Tiparat Pinyo from the sea.

Phuket Police helicopters and vessels from the Marine Police, Customs Department and Navy as well as local fishing boats, which were first on the scene, all took part in the rescue effort.

Of the survivors, 56 of the 63 who received treatment at Koh Yao Hospital have already been released. Eleven people with serious injuries were transferred to Wachira Phuket Hospital.

A Marine Police unit salvaged the ferry yesterday. Although licensed to carry just 22 people, it was overloaded with about 70 passengers, along with 10 motorcycles and other cargo.

Koh Yao Police Station Superintendent Pol Col Weerasin Khwanseng said yesterday that ferry captain and owner Dol Rerngsumthorn had contacted the police to arrange his surrender and will face charges of reckless conduct leading to death and injury

Phuket Marine Police Inspector Pol Maj Prasert Srikunnarat told the Gazette that while some passengers were wearing life jackets, others were not.

One of the Rungroj survivors, 34-year-old Koh Yao resident Chanida Romin, told the Gazette from her hospital bed at Wachira Phuket Hospital, “It happened at around 3 pm. There were strong winds and heavy rain. I had come over to Phuket and was on my way back home.

“The captain told us not to panic. He also warned us not to all go to the same side of the boat, otherwise it could capsize. Then a woman said that we had to abandon ship, because the boat was filling up with water, but nobody believed her.

“However, after that, the captain himself was the first person to jump into the water. The crew told us to jump though the windows into the sea. By then the water was up to our knees. It was complete chaos as everybody struggled for life jackets [because there were not enough].

“Everyone managed to get off, but not everybody had a life jacket. I had one, and found myself in the water with two other people. One of them also had a life jacket but the other didn’t. The two of us could only watch as she was pulled under by a large wave. She drowned right in front of our eyes.

“We floated out there for about an hour, and I prayed to God the entire time to rescue us. Eventually we were rescued by a long-tail boat. Last night, I was up all night vomiting up sea water.

“I hope all the relevant government agencies will take action to prevent something like this from ever happening again,” she added.

The Rungroj capsizing was not the only emergency situation on Saturday afternoon.

Col Weerasin told the Gazette that the Phuket Marine Police also received a distress call from Koh Pai.

“That night, while we were working hard to search for survivors, we received a report that 70 tourists were stranded on Koh Pai. Their ferry was unable to return them to Phuket because of the storm.

“We sent a Marine Police boat to the island and were able to get them all back to Phuket safely,” he said, adding that the stranded tourists included both Thais and foreigners.

http://www.phuketgazette.net/news/index.asp?fromsearch=yes&Id=4124