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Mutiny crewman Note points to the murder weapon on the Supaporn

Phuket Mutiny: Rebellious Crew Chop Cruel Captain and Ship's Engineer to Death

Friday, October 14, 2011
PHUKET: It was Phuket's own voyage of the damned. When the seven-man crew of a fishing trawler mutinied and killed the captain and the ship's engineer for their cruelty, they didn't count on the vessel itself betraying them and bringing about their capture.

The voyage had taken a deadly turn, but the crew of killers planned to swim for it as soon as the trawler Supaporn was close enough to Phuket.

Justice prevails, and often in strange ways. Today, off Racha island, a popular five-star resort and diving destination south of Phuket, a Marine Police patrol saw the Supaporn drifting. They pulled alongside, and went on board to investigate.

When the marine police asked the whereabouts of the Thai captain - every Thai vessel must have a Thai captain - they were met with the blank stares of the all Burmese crew.

The officers went down below, and there, in the clutter of the ship's galley, they found blood spattered everywhere. The murderous mutiny was at an end.

Remarkably, the engine of the 'Supaporn' had stopped working just 48 hours after the heinous bloody slaughter of the ship's engineer and the skipper, and none of the crew could fix it.

Today, after the seven men were apprehended, a full account of the horrible mutiny on the Supaporn emerged.

It was the first voyage for crewmen Note, 25, and Kala, 20, who joined Ano, 25, Min, 22, One, 30, Prean, 22, and Wen, 25, on the Supaporn when it left port in Trang province, south of Phuket, about five months ago.

Neither of them had bargained on the hardship of life at sea under Captain Lure and engineer Lek, the only names the men knew for their tormentors, the crew told the Marine Police. The Burmese were constantly mistreated and abused by both men, the officers were told.

Food was poorly cooked and sometimes thrown at them. The fish they caught would be occasionally transferred to another vessel at sea, between Thailand and Indonesia.

There seemed to be no end to what Note came to regard as a living hell. According to the officers, he and his crewmates conspired to break free from their slavery at sea.

About 1am on Wednesday, Note picked up an all-purpose chopper and used it on the captain, and the other crew helped throw his body to the sharks. Next it was the turn of the cruel lieutenant, engineer Lek, to die.

The men decided to head back towards Phuket because to return to Trang would have encouraged questions they could not answer. They agreed that once the vessel was within a couple of hundred metres of Phuket, they would jump overboard.

But off Racha island, with Phuket quite close, the engine failed. The passing Marine Police patrol grew suspicious. And when they could so easily have gotten away with murder, the confessed killers were caught.

Today at Phuket's Rassada pier, Phuket Police Commander Major General Pekad Tantipong and other senior police greeted the Marine Police patrol, the Supaporn, and its crew. The deadly mutiny was over.
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Comments

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Hope that in time, justice will emerge, and those exploited burmese, could start their new life (out of jail) and that Thai fishing industry will clean and get rid off some dangerous sharks species, mostly boat owners, pirates of the Andaman Sea, damaging the reefs, destroying all marine life.

Posted by bounty sea lover on October 15, 2011 06:33

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Karma, If you treat people like animals then invariably they will behave like animals. It's almost common knowledge that Thais don't treat the Burmese very well. They are hard working and should deserve the same respect like any other person on the planet. I have never understood why Thais think they are one above the rest. I can only say that it must be the system that poisons their mind in thinking that Thais are superior, when in fact they are not ! You have still a lot to learn Thailand when it comes to human rights and treating people on the same level.

Posted by reader on October 15, 2011 09:19

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Fishermen in Thailand behave as in XIX century with no respect to other human beings especially from neighbor countries.
The best visible samples are all fishing boats do not have toilet but handles in the back of each boat and do not have bins as all plastic garbage and bottles are throw into the sea.
Fishery Department which is in charge to improve living condition aboard fishing boats does nothing to change their behavior.

Posted by Whistle-Blower on October 15, 2011 12:19

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Whistle-Blower

That example of yours must be the worst example to describe the problem with
"Fishermen in Thailand behave as in XIX century with no respect to other human beings especially from neighbor countries."

Or are you saying the thai crew has a japanese luxury toilet hidden somewhere on the boat? So this "sea toilet" is the worst visible example you can find showing how bad the Thai crew is? That's just plain weird.
Commenting on the case, people blabbering about Karma this and that seem to have failed to notice that these Burmese fishermen aren't exactly in a good place right now. So I guess murder will empty your Karma in a hurry since these guys got caught and will very likely be executed. No matter how unfair and disgusting the captain might have been, its difficult to say that hacking somebody to death is somehow ok. That it happened is "understandable" but nothing any sane person would condone.

What would Bounty, Reader and WB like to see? That the murderers were released? Been thinking about joining any anarchist movements lately?

Posted by christian on October 15, 2011 15:25

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Hey Mr Christian, go spend months, abused under those living conditions and you will do the same.

Posted by Jean-Paul Patrick on October 16, 2011 09:11

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Congratulations the posters on this site have reached a new low. Hacking people to death is karmic justice, All Thai fisherman are 19th century despots that deserve to be murdered. Anyone who is mistreated on a ship will turn into a homicidal maniac. I am afraid Christian that attempting to be rational is mis-placed and if you need to explain why hacking the captain and the engineer to bits is wrong to someone they are probably not sane enough themselves to grasp it.

Really people are you saying that if you feel you have been mistreated you are justified in hacking people to death? There are going to be a lot of teenagers with machetes out there.

WB if you only posted the recommendation that the fishery dept improve living conditions it would be acceptable. To the other potential homicidal maniacs: karma and murder are not related. Karma is not a defense for murder and just murders, like just wars do not exist. In this particular case we have a very difficult problem. We have only the murderers' side of the story about how bad conditions were. By sanctioning the survivors' story you open up a lot of potential criminal acts when you accept that the dead got what they deserve.

Christian my only fault with your comment is defaming anarchists by comparing them to people who condone this type of heinous crime. But come to think of it, when you have people hacking each other death and others suggesting it's ok to do so then you already have anarchy.

Posted by Martin on October 16, 2011 11:03

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Just read this article and you may understand what is happening by the sea.
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/migrants-tell-slavery-thai-fishing-boats-041216279.html
Migrants tell of slavery on Thai fishing boats
Thousands of men from Myanmar and Cambodia set sail on Thai fishing boats every day, but many are unwilling seafarers - slaves forced to work in brutal conditions under threat of death. (moderated)

Posted by Whistle-Blower on October 16, 2011 11:50

Editor Comment:

Unless you happen to be the author, it's plagiarism to cut and paste an entire report.

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Jean-Paul

Yes, maybe I would. Thats the "understandable" part of my earlier post. Like its "understandable" to want to kill a person that rapes your wife for example. I would probably do that too, but I would of course have to go to prison for it. Anything else and you have anarchy, revenge killings etc etc. Is that really a society you strive for?

The law must be there and must be applied, otherwise you have anarchy.

Posted by christian on October 16, 2011 18:06

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@ Christian & @ Martin
One of my Thai brothers-in-law lost in life on fishing boat 20 years ago (mutiny, murder, sunken boat).
My Thai family were unable to get information on which fishing boat and what had been happening.
Personally, I got 2 times encounters with fishing boats where we have to fled the sooner the better as at that time we were not so many dive boats or tour boats going to outer islands, especially in the south.

Posted by Whistle-Blower on October 16, 2011 20:45

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What a truly horrible story from Thailand.

Posted by Peter on October 17, 2011 06:36

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Peter, what do you mean 'horrible'? I found it to be a rather heart-warming tale. All stories that end in the capture of the bad guy always leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling. But each to his own...

Posted by Quinto on October 17, 2011 09:43


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