Overloaded Boat Sinks with 7 Crew Aboard Near Pattaya

A severely overloaded fishing boat has sunk off the coast of Koh Juang in the Pattaya Bay. The vessels seven crewmembers were fortunate to escape and survive in the water for over an hour before they were rescued by Navy officers.

Pattaya, the 24th of February 2010 [PDN]: At approximately 07:00am on Wednesday, Navy General Taweep Sukpinij received a report that a fishing vessel had sunk in the waters off Koh Juang. The report was via a distress call that was sent out by the captain of the vessel requesting immediate assistance shortly after an unknown incident had occurred. Lt. Chandarasri in command of Navy boat no. 224 was sent to the location to investigate the incident further.

At the scene, Navy Lt. Chandarasri found that all the crew from the sunken fishing vessel have fortunately survived the incident by holding onto several of the oil barrels that had been on the ship. The Navy rescue team promptly pulled the men from the water with the use of a rubberised dingy. The men had been in the water for over an hour following the accident.

Interrogations with the captain of the sunken vessel, Mr. Manop Chareonsuk revealed that the group had been fishing for squid in the boat ‘Chareonchai.’ Mr. Chareonsuk explained that he had regrettably overloaded the boat, causing the ship to sink after a large wave had broken over its’ side. Mr. Chareonsuk revealed that the drainage channels had been blocked by the cargo and the boat sank as the water from the wave could not escape.

Fortunately, the six crew and captain survived the incident by holding onto several oil barrels from the ship for over an hour whilst waiting for rescue. The crew consisted of 6 Burmese immigrants and one Thai national. Navy divers will now investigate the sunken ship to assess whether it is possible to salvage the vessel.


News : Yanwarrut
Photo : Yanwarrut