PHUKET: There are no plans to investigate a case in which a swimming tourist was struck by speedboat's propeller, says the Phuket policeman who took a statement about the incident.
The tourist whose leg was badly cut when the speedboat ploughed into a group of swimmers at Kata beach, Nikolai Nefedov, is now safely back in Russia.
His children, Ilya and Natalia, reported the arrival of Mr Nefedov and his wife Irina and sent a copy of the report that Mrs Nefedov lodged at Chalong Police Station.
Captain Au-tawat Sowannarat, of Chalong Police Station, told Phuketwan yesterday that Mrs Nefedov had lodged a report but that it was being treated as something she did for insurance purposes, not as a case for investigation.
The driver of speedboat 18 at Kata beach appears to have escaped paying compensation or even an official reprimand for steering his wayward vessel into the group of Phuket swimmers in shallow water on December 2.
Lack of action on Phuket contrasts with a case in New Zealand where a court ruled yesterday that a tour company must pay the equivalent of three million baht in compensation for an Australian tourist having her leg badly cut by a boat's propeller on a ''swim with the dolphins'' voyage in December.
Ilya and Natalia reported that the Russian travel insurance company eventually paid her mother's fare as well as the additional costs involved in their father's return to Ekaterinburg.
Mr Nefedov endured 11 hours in an ambulance before the flight and nine more hours in a vehicle after landing. His damaged right leg will require more treatment.
'It is still not known whether the insurance company will pay for the initial treatment at Phuket International Hospital,'' they wrote.
The Russian insurance company specified that their customers had to be treated at Vachira Phuket Hospital, rather than the nearest available hospital, which is the unconditional arrangement preferred by most insurers.
Once the clause was discovered in the insurance contract, Mr Nefedov had to be transferred to Vachira Phuket, leaving an outstanding unpaid bill for the emergency treatment he received at Phuket International.
''The conclusion is our insurance company makes everything possible to minimise its costs and risks (they even sent their own medical person from Moscow) not thinking about health and wealth of its clients and citizens,'' the couple's children wrote.
The tourist whose leg was badly cut when the speedboat ploughed into a group of swimmers at Kata beach, Nikolai Nefedov, is now safely back in Russia.
His children, Ilya and Natalia, reported the arrival of Mr Nefedov and his wife Irina and sent a copy of the report that Mrs Nefedov lodged at Chalong Police Station.
Captain Au-tawat Sowannarat, of Chalong Police Station, told Phuketwan yesterday that Mrs Nefedov had lodged a report but that it was being treated as something she did for insurance purposes, not as a case for investigation.
The driver of speedboat 18 at Kata beach appears to have escaped paying compensation or even an official reprimand for steering his wayward vessel into the group of Phuket swimmers in shallow water on December 2.
Lack of action on Phuket contrasts with a case in New Zealand where a court ruled yesterday that a tour company must pay the equivalent of three million baht in compensation for an Australian tourist having her leg badly cut by a boat's propeller on a ''swim with the dolphins'' voyage in December.
Ilya and Natalia reported that the Russian travel insurance company eventually paid her mother's fare as well as the additional costs involved in their father's return to Ekaterinburg.
Mr Nefedov endured 11 hours in an ambulance before the flight and nine more hours in a vehicle after landing. His damaged right leg will require more treatment.
'It is still not known whether the insurance company will pay for the initial treatment at Phuket International Hospital,'' they wrote.
The Russian insurance company specified that their customers had to be treated at Vachira Phuket Hospital, rather than the nearest available hospital, which is the unconditional arrangement preferred by most insurers.
Once the clause was discovered in the insurance contract, Mr Nefedov had to be transferred to Vachira Phuket, leaving an outstanding unpaid bill for the emergency treatment he received at Phuket International.
''The conclusion is our insurance company makes everything possible to minimise its costs and risks (they even sent their own medical person from Moscow) not thinking about health and wealth of its clients and citizens,'' the couple's children wrote.
All expats, tourists and consul in Phuket will have a bad feeling about the lack of ethics of civil servants by not protecting the tourism industry by prosecuting wrongdoers, especially local thugs and mafia cartels.
Posted by Whistle-Blower on December 15, 2011 17:40