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Divers and crew scramble to flee the Aladdin with their lives

Phuket Crackdown on Overloaded Boats: Dive Sinking Officially 'an Accident'

Friday, January 31, 2014
VIDEO, photos in Sweden's Aftonbladet
http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article18263937.ab/

PHUKET: Marine authorities say they have already begun a push against overloaded boats to ensure greater safety at sea around Phuket, with the official assessment of yesterday's dive boat sinking that it was ''an accident.''

Video of the capsize of the live-aboard vessel Aladdin made dramatic viewing as the tourist-divers on board scrambled for their lives into the sea any way they could.

The owner of the boat, a man who prefers to be known only as Frank, said today that the boat was not insured. As the two million baht vessel was unlikely to be recovered, his business would probably close.

The Aladdin was based in Ranong, and it went down off the Similan islands, also a popular destination for divers from Phuket and Phang Nga. The Phuket-based vessel Peter Pan was alongside the Aladdin and able to pick up the extra passengers as the Aladdin went down.

It is believed the propeller became entangled with a rope and tore a hole in the boat's hull. ''People tried to get down below to fix the problem but there wasn't time,'' Frank told Phuketwan today.

''There was a liferaft and a dinghy on the Aladdin and both were deployed but people did not put on their life jackets because the rescue vessel was so close,'' he said. There was 15 people on Aladdin, he added.

The regional director of the Phuket-based Marine 5 Office, Vichai Khumkhong, said today he understood there were 17 passengers and three crew on board, making a total of 20. The vessel was licenced to carry 30 people.

''The sinking was an accident, nothing to do with the quality of the boat,'' Khun Vichai said today. ''The propeller became caught up in a rope and holed the hull.''

At the time the vessel was four kilometres off Bon island. Fortunately, the Peter Pan quickly answered a distress call.

Chairman of the Diving Industry Phuket Association, Pakdee Kuthanang, said today she thought maintenance was a problem with some vessels in the industry.

''The boats are checked once a year but that doesn't account for maintenance,'' she said.''The cost of fuel is high, so are running costs.

''Some boat owners are forced to scrimp on spending. Boats can look good on the outside but not be all that they should be on the inside.''

Marine 5 director Khun Vichai said his officers were campaigning at present to control the overloading of boats, with one longtail operator off Krabi recently arrested and facing a court appearance soon for carrying one passenger over the specified maximum number.

He said safety was a priority and Marine 5 officers were now visiting piers across the Andaman region to inspect boats more than once a year in random checks ''Thailand has been allowing boats to exceed limits for too long,'' he admitted.

He urged boat captains to reject pressure to carry excessive numbers. ''If you are a captain and you are asked to carry more people than you should, quit your job,'' he said. ''I will find you another job.''

He said tourists should also be vigilant about their own safety and urged people who discovered a breach to call him immediately.

''The telephone number is 076 393572,'' he said. ''We will have officials waiting to meet the boat and arrest whoever is responsible.''

VIDEO, photos in Sweden's Aftonbladet
http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article18263937.ab/

Comments

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From the regional directors comments we can rest assured that Marine District 5 is spot on the job as always and have already completed a detailed investigation into the cause of this sinking. As they advised us after thoroughly reviewing previous incidents, accidents do happen.

Posted by Treelover on January 31, 2014 15:52

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Maintenance is far too often approached with an " Why fix it if it isn't broken " approach. The whole point is not to have the part break in the first place and put you in a dangerous situation. .

The dive boats I've worked on varied from excellent to absolute death-traps.

Equally the mindset of " Accidents cannot be prevented " needs to be thrown overboard.

A tangled rope is a common problem and with proper precautions collateral damage can easily be prevented.

Seriously - a rope sinks a boat and it's considered an accident of no consequence by Khun Vichai ?

Next time we have a plastic bag sinking a boat in an unpreventable accident, huh ?

Reading the comments K. Phuriphat makes it very challenging to deduct safety being the priority of Marine Office 5.

Posted by ThaiMike on January 31, 2014 16:12

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bolted, horse, gate, after

Posted by paul on January 31, 2014 17:54

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lots of boats have accident based from Phuket this one was sunk by a rope wasn't the last sinking from a concrete block with no buoy they had been aware of months so many accidents.

Posted by slickmelb on January 31, 2014 23:44

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the flying carped did almost sunk a few months ago at richelieu rock. I wonder why nobody talks about the big whole in the boat from that accident.

Posted by modo on February 1, 2014 04:10


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