PHUKET: There’s nothing as sick, sad or ridiculous as the coffin of a child. This week Phuket’s so-called Marine Office and the public relations machine, which has bleated nothing but marine safety for nearly the past two years since the Phoenix tour boat disaster, now have two more in their ledger.

Phuket “marine safety officials” were warned not even two months ago when another boat collision off the east coast killed one boat captain and injured dozens of tourists.

In that collision, local officials took no corrective action because the person who died, Surat Mat-O-Sot, the 49-year-old captain of the tour boat “Choksuphasan 35”, was the one deemed solely responsible for the accident.

No one asked why Surat was still driving a boat full of tourists after he had already killed two Korean tourists and injured more than a dozen more in 2014 in the notorious capsizing when he bent over to pick up a black plastic bag that had blown into the cabin.