PHUKET: A crash involving two speedboats off Phuket in which four Chinese tourists and a Thai guide were injured appeared to be an accident, the investigating officer said yesterday.
The comment came from Lieutenant Colonel Attapol Kemanuwong, of Koh Yao Police Station, after he interviewed the two speedboat captains.
One captain, Sangnarin Sungkao, told Phuketwan that he thought the other speedboat was travelling too fast when it crashed into the side of his moored vessel at Koh Kai Nok, a small atoll popular with day-trippers, on Sunday.
''I tried to move forward but there wasn't time,'' Khun Sangnarin said. ''The other boat was travelling very, very fast.''
Motoring horizontally along the shore, the other speedboat driver appeared to not see that there was a second speedboat behind a speedboat pulling off the beach.
He could not pull up or turn and crashed into Khun Sangnarin's vessel, laden with tourists.
Absolute Marine, owners of the speedboat that did the damage, accepted liablility and agreed to compensate the injured people.
Once Khun Sangnarin extracted his damaged speedboat from the other vessel, he took the injured passengers and the rest of the tourists back to Phuket for treatment.
Zheng Dazhi, 36, left Mission Hospital in Phuket City yesterday after treatment. That left just one tourist, Zun Jiuxing, 42, still in hospital being treated for badly broken ribs.
Zang Zoufa, 53 injured an arm, and Xu Yiming, 51, suffered a back injury. Guide, Veeranan Srisuwan, 40, suffered head wounds and was an inpatient briefly.
The comment came from Lieutenant Colonel Attapol Kemanuwong, of Koh Yao Police Station, after he interviewed the two speedboat captains.
One captain, Sangnarin Sungkao, told Phuketwan that he thought the other speedboat was travelling too fast when it crashed into the side of his moored vessel at Koh Kai Nok, a small atoll popular with day-trippers, on Sunday.
''I tried to move forward but there wasn't time,'' Khun Sangnarin said. ''The other boat was travelling very, very fast.''
Motoring horizontally along the shore, the other speedboat driver appeared to not see that there was a second speedboat behind a speedboat pulling off the beach.
He could not pull up or turn and crashed into Khun Sangnarin's vessel, laden with tourists.
Absolute Marine, owners of the speedboat that did the damage, accepted liablility and agreed to compensate the injured people.
Once Khun Sangnarin extracted his damaged speedboat from the other vessel, he took the injured passengers and the rest of the tourists back to Phuket for treatment.
Zheng Dazhi, 36, left Mission Hospital in Phuket City yesterday after treatment. That left just one tourist, Zun Jiuxing, 42, still in hospital being treated for badly broken ribs.
Zang Zoufa, 53 injured an arm, and Xu Yiming, 51, suffered a back injury. Guide, Veeranan Srisuwan, 40, suffered head wounds and was an inpatient briefly.
Does anyone know if being a boat "Captain" will still be a Thai only job after Asean in 2015?
Posted by Fiesty Farang on September 24, 2013 13:00