Search operations resumed at dawn Monday for ten people still missing from a fatal boat crash and partial sinking on Sunday afternoon.
Ayutthaya government Prayoon Rattanasenee said that as of early Monday, the official death toll was now fifteen. Another 46 people have been injured, ten of whom are in critical condition.

The search for the ten people still missing from the crash was under way.

The accident happened near the ancient city of Ayutthaya, a popular tourist attraction, although no foreigners were believed to be among the dead.

Video footage shows the speeding two-floor vessel crash and its lower deck submerge...


http://pattayaone.net/pattaya-news/2318 ... t-tragedy/

was there less than a year ago, there were river cops handing out fines to tourist or boat operators for not wearing life jackets, wonder if that helps in this case

bolueeleh wrote:was there less than a year ago, there were river cops handing out fines to tourist or boat operators for not wearing life jackets, wonder if that helps in this case

Shouldn't think so... it went down in seconds, anyone below the top deck was pretty much doomed. How awful.

What a sad ordeal. First rate fuktard of a captain. River 4knts., overtakes in congested bend on shallow side.

FFS

i hv no experience or knowledge on boat operation but those long boats are zipping mighty fast on a crowded river as well

True. But a very few are carrying tourists. In a alternative universe you have different levels of MMD's. Experience & knowledge & common sense required.

News said it had twice the number of people it should have. Greedy owners should be drowned, but are probably well connected and will get off.

Official transferred; boat owner, driver charged

A marine official in Nonthaburi province has been transferred for licensing the passenger boat that sunk in Ayutthaya province when it had no insurance, while its owner and driver face multiple charges.

Sorasak Saensombat, director-general of the Marine Department, said on Thursday that he transferred Hathaikan Penkun of the department’s Nonthaburi branch to the Ship Registration Bureau for two weeks as she had signed the new licence for the boat, Sombat Mongkolchai, in June although there was no insurance for its passengers.

He also launched an investigation into the official and said disciplinary proceedings could follow. Department deputy director-general Nat Chubchai said it should be known before the end of the month whether any marine officials had received an insurance fee from the boat owner but failed to arrange for coverage, and whether the concrete embankment of the river at Wat Sanam Chai, where the boat sank, had been legally built...

Boat driver Wirach Chaisirikul, 67, was charged with reckless driving causing death and serious injury, operating an overloaded boat, using an expired driving licence and using an overloaded vehicle in the way that caused death and serious injury...

The 27-metre-long Sombat Mongkolchai was licensed to carry 50 passengers but it was transporting more than 100 when the tragedy occurred, claiming 28 lives and injured about 50 others last Sunday.

http://pattayaone.news/en/official-tran ... r-charged/

Official was transferred for two weeks? (probably after accepting a bribe to license the boat.) Nothing changes. "TIT"

Lax boat safety rules take flak
Death toll in Sunday capsize rises to 20
20 Sep 2016

As rescuers continued to search for missing victims of Sunday's tourist-boat capsize in Ayutthaya, officials have pointed to poor enforcement of laws regulating boat-transport safety and ordered parties concerned to step up safety measures.

Late on Monday, 20 dead bodies of passengers aboard the tourist boat when it overturned had been found, retrieved and identified.

The Marine Department said about 12 people were still missing. Ayutthaya governor Prayoon Ratanaseree said about 50 people were injured in the accident.

Thailand's worst boat accidents these last 10 years. The N°1 cause is carelessness:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... -take-flak