News Analysis
PHUKET: It's time for Phuket's tourism industry to get serious about safety on the water. That means, as Australian honorary consul Larry Cunningham has suggested, not letting speedboats put to sea on dangerous days.
Decisions about venturing into the moody Andaman Sea on days when the Southern Meteorological Centre (West Coast) determines that it could be unsafe should not be left to speedboat captains.
Self-interest means some will inevitably choose to put to sea rather than spend a day without any income, especially if it's the most dangerous time of the year and they have already spent several days without work.
Video footage of the rescue of some of the 41 people who were left to swim for it this week shows how terrifying the ordeal must have been off Phi Phi, especially for children and people who could not swim.
There were tourists from Australia, Britain, Turkey, Kuwait, China and Indonesia involved. Children aged two, eight, 13 and 15 were passengers on the vessel.
Some rescued passengers have said they asked the captain before leaving Phuket whether it was a safe day to be at sea, and he told them that it was safe.
It was a poor decision, and Phuket speedboat captains will keep making poor decisions. That's why the system must be changed.
The loss of money is something Phuket's speedboat captains will have to learn to live with. The loss of lives is what Phuket needs to avoid.
As an international destination, it's time Phuket adopted international standards on land and sea.
A Russian swimmer off Phuket's Kata beach was seriously injured by a speedboat propellor earlier this year. More recently, a French tourist snorkelling off Phi Phi was struck and killed.
Two Chinese tourists have died while snorkelling recently off Phuket and a third woman narrowly escaped after being rescued just in time by her husband.
As more tourists flock to Phuket, the dangers of more deaths and injuries grow.
Some of those tourists come with no idea of the dangers and are given no help to learn the simple art of staying alive while snorkelling.
Fortunately, a recent campaign to equip all speedboats with the proper number of life jackets has saved lives twice this year in speedboat sinkings.
But in the aftermath of this week's near tragedy, Phuket's marine authorities must now become far more proactive and stop speedboats putting to sea when conditions are obviously dangerous, as they were this week.
Full manifests of the people on board speedboats should also become compulsory.
Investment in the safety of tourists at sea off Phuket is wise spending on Phuket's future. Ambassadors from several of the nations with tourists in the water this week are likely to be suggesting it.
We recommend that Marine Office 5, which oversees safety on the water off Phuket, also seeks more staff to improve the quality of its operations.
Speedboat captains must be properly trained about the weather, and about what to do in an emergency.
And Marine Office 5 must understand there is no such thing as a ''natural'' accident in the water. They all can and must be prevented.
Watch the heroes of Phuket and Krabi rescue some of the speedboat sinking survivors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgRBfCUBswo
The freelance "captains" and their teenage sons who for the "boat crew" are motivated by greed. I don't think taking a day off due to rough sea would have such a financial impact on them. But they cannot imagine a life with days off. They are more interested in accumulating money and buying big Fortuners.
Posted by danny on August 30, 2012 15:35