Boonlua Chatree
A captain high on methamphetamines was behind the wheel when a
passenger ferry capsized and sank off Koh Larn, killing six Thai and
foreign tourists.
Saman Khwanmueang, 42, turned himself in to Pattaya Police Station late
Nov. 3, hours after the two-deck Koh Larn Travel boat overloaded with
209 passengers flooded and sank about a half-kilometer off Nuan Beach.
Saman, who fled the scene as tourists without life jackets flailed for
their lives, eventually surrendered, confessing he’d driven the boat
into the rocks while intoxicated. A urine test confirmed
methamphetamines in his bloodstream.
Polish nationals Antonu Franczak, 60, his wife Lida, 47, Hong Kong
native To Kin Man, 48, and Thais Nattawadee Sopittapong, 44, Jaree
Attavodo, 67, and Chuchart Chomphunak, 52, died. Thirty-four others were
taken to area hospitals for treatment, with several remaining in
intensive care. The injured included five Russians, one Japanese and one
Chinese.
Rescue workers comb the sea
to search for any victims that might have been lost.
Police said the deaths and injuries occurred not only
because the captain was abusing narcotics, taking the boat off course,
but because it was severely overloaded and lacked sufficient numbers of
life jackets and flotation devices.
That revelation points yet another bloody finger at Pattaya, Chonburi
and national politicians, Marine Department, police and regulatory
officials who repeatedly have promised to crack down on obvious and
well-documented safety lapses that now have lead to nine deaths, leg
amputations, slit throats and dozens of other injuries in boat-related
accidents in Pattaya Bay.
With each headline-searing accident - and the bad press for the city is
now circling the entire world - hand-wringing men in suits profess
regrets and swear that the myriad of marine-safety laws that already
exist will, for once, be enforced and that sorely needed new ones will
be enacted.
But since April, when two South Koreans were maimed and 18 others hurt
in a speedboat crash, the only things to result from the talk are more
accidents and more death.
Emergency Medical
Technicians frantically provide CPR to try and save the victims.
Checks for both safety equipment and proper boat
capacity are the easiest and most-often-cited improvements that will be
made. Yet both never happened here. The 4 p.m. ferry was one of seven
operated by Koh Larn Travel. Tourists scrambled to get back to the
mainland and the drug-addled captain was only to happy to take 150 baht
from anyone that wanted to go, as well as sell them alcoholic beverages
for the 40-minute ride back.
No one on Koh Larn cared - if they were even present to check - that the
boat could only carry 150 passengers. Boat owner Jaruk Ngamkaew, 45,
claimed there were 160 on board, but counts from passengers and the
local dive boat that came to their rescue put the figure at 209.
Admittedly stoned, Saman steered the boat off course, taking into the
boulder-laden coral reefs off Koh Larn, Divers who examined the sunken
craft Nov. 4 found the bow cracked open. Water flooded the top deck,
swamping the pump. Saman cut all power, but never gave any safety
directives to the passengers, fearing they’d panic.
There is no horror like that
of losing a loved one.
They did. Discovering the boat had only a fraction of
the life vests needed, passengers rushed to the perceived safety of the
second deck. The boat listed suddenly and then capsized. Water gushed
through the fractured wooden hull, taking it down in minutes. Bodies
clung to the few foam tubes scattered among the orange-jacketed
passengers lucky enough to grab a life vest before the boat sank.
Local boat operator Panutcha Bunnag was among 30 scuba divers within
sight of the accident. She told a reporter they called rescuers then
sped their boat - loaded with a number of qualified emergency first
responders - to the scene. The divers took 71 people out of the water,
three in serious condition.
First Naval Area Command, Sawang Boriboon and police officials soon
arrived, plucking the tired and injured from the sea.
Back on shore, Chonburi provincial police commander Maj. Gen. Khatcha
Thatsart, Royal Thai Police advisor Gen. Wuthi Liptapnalop, and Region 2
police commander Lt. Gen. Kawee Suphanont quickly began the expected
public posturing, reviewing the victims and suspect, all the while
promising swift remedial action.
Boat owner Jaruk claimed all his boats are property
licensed, but offered no explanations of why they were so poorly
outfitted with safety gear. He also claimed to have adequate insurance,
promising to compensate the injured and families of the dead. Such
compensation totals little. The new Pattaya “tourist court” awarded the
families of two Chinese tourists killed in an August speedboat collision
just 2.3 million of the 8 million baht they each sought.
Boat owner Jaruk Ngamkaew
(back) gives his statement of ownership of the boat to the investigation
officer at Pattaya police station.
Saman, of course, is being set up as the fall guy. After all, he
admitted smoking meth. His license was duly revoked and he’ll face
charges of reckless driving leading to death. And authorities are
promising to revoke Koh Larn Travel’s license if any of its other six
boats fail inspection. But whether any of that results in a safer ocean
for Pattaya’s nine million tourists remains very much in doubt.
