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A Phuket sea gypsy diver tests his mask above the water
A Phuket sea gypsy diver tests his mask above the water
Photo by phuketwan.com
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Phuket Sea Gypsy Divers to 'Pop' Sunken Fuel

By Chutima Sidasathian

Thursday, September 9, 2010
Sea Gypsy Dive Photo Album Above

SEA GYPSY divers are being used to recover a sunken diesel transporter off Phuket. About a dozen of the divers are on standby to go down about 40 metres, using their traditional method.

The 12 divers, from the southern Phuket village of Rawai, use dive masks and basic plastic piping to go to prodigious depths when necessary.

Royal Thai Navy officers had hoped to start the recovery on Wednesday or Thursday but the divers said strong currents below the surface were making the process difficult.

Once the sea calms down, the divers will carry down large empty drums to pack around the converted trawler, them pump air into the drums. Once enough drums are filled with air, the trawler should pop to the surface.

The divers say that judging by conditions on Thursday, it could be up to four more days before the fuel carrier and its load of 25,000 litres of diesel can be recovered.

The vessel sank in bad weather while on its way from Phuket to Racha island at the weekend. While there has been no spill from the diesel cargo so far, Navy officer are mindful of the need to get the fuel to the surface quickly and safely to prevent any chance of marine life being damaged.

The Rawai divers go down in teams of three each time, supported by their fellow workers on the surface in a simple longtail boat, equipped with a pump for air.
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Spend the money and get in professionals rather than exploiting these people.

Posted by Bernie on September 9, 2010 22:38

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I hope the decompression chamber at Vichara Hospital is in full functioning order. Working time at these depths is around 10 minutes. Do these "divers" have dive computers on them to monitor or record their dive? No. Also the plastic tubing they use is toxic as well as no oil or air filter fitted to the old fridge compressor with the drive motors diesel exhaust inches away from the inlet.

Another disaster waiting to happen.

As an aside it is these "divers" who have cleaned the local seabed and reefs of most of its marine life and the resultant decimating of dive sites on which Phuket is so dependent for it's long term future.

Posted by innocent bystander on September 10, 2010 08:41

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What a absolute disgrace from the authorities. Where are the Navy divers, they should be able to do it with proper equipment or get a commercial dive company in to do it. But no, why spent all the money on professionals, if you can get sea gypsies for a couple of hundred baht a day!

Posted by Phuket on September 10, 2010 09:43

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Disgraceful! These poor souls scrape a living at the best of times. You've only got to stroll around their village to see the number of males limping and hobbling along due to previous deco accidents.

Posted by seaeagle on September 11, 2010 13:07

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Very gallant to use the sea gypsy folk. Save money and cast aside their lives.SICK.
Where are the navy divers? Use proper techniques and qualified deep divers for this task, or you will pay the price for saving money and not doing this properly.

Posted by Graham on September 12, 2010 09:05

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Jeez. Talk about a Cheap Charlie operation.

This is what I do not understand. Phuket portrays itself as an upscale destination with world class hotels/resorts, scads of million dollar plus villas and taxi fares to rival Tokyo. Yet when it comes to this, they use Gypsy Divers?!

And people get mad when tourists try to haggle on prices?

Posted by Anonymous on September 13, 2010 14:03

Editor Comment:

New York and London also portray themselves as upscale destinations, but you'd also expect to find aspects of the infrastructure of those cities that are short on funds. Phuket is no different. Cash for essential services is difficult to find. Emergencies aren't a budgeted item.
Saturday February 4, 2012
Horizon Karon Beach Resort & Spa

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