Sinking Ferry - Koh Tao

[PeteC]

From Thai Enquirer FB report. Nothing about it in other media sources at the moment.

All 76 passengers and crew members who were stranded on a boat with a malfunctioned engine, approximately 7 kilometers away from Koh Tao, were safely rescued before the vessel completely sank.

The majority of the passengers were foreigners, and no serious injuries were reported as passengers were taken to Koh Tao by the rescue boats. The waves reached a height of around 3 meters during the rescue operation.

An investigation is currently underway to determine the cause of the malfunctioning engine, which led the vessel to take on water before ultimately sinking.


https://fb.watch/p5C20-8JJs/

[pharvey]

All 76 passengers and crew members who were stranded on a boat with a malfunctioned engine, approximately 7 kilometers away from Koh Tao, were safely rescued before the vessel completely sank.

The sad thing these days Pete - is that nobody could give a sh*t if everybody is safe. Only makes the news if a few have drowned, there was a drunken fight or there was something illegal about the whole thing.... A weapon or 2 perhaps.

Ho hum.

[PeteC]

The Bangkok Post has it. Photos at link.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... -tao-ferry

[KanDoo]

My worst ever travel experience was on a December day more than 10 years ago when I took that high speed ferry over to Koh Tao. I kinda knew it was going to be bad when they were handing out vomit bags prior to departure. Very high wind and waves. We barely got past the breakers and the waves, more like 4 to 5 meters at least, had the boat going it every direction. I've done more than my fair share of traveling via trains, planes, four legged creatures, and been places and situations that were more than dangerous but this was the worst. It lasted about two hours so you may ask how bad could it be for two hours? It was horrible.

Koh Tao use to be my favorite island and I visited often but after the murder of those two kids and the circus that followed I said I would never go back and I have not.

[Big Boy]

I watched footage of the rescue on Thai news yesterday. That must have been the largest liferaft I've ever seen. It took all the passengers with ease, and looked a lot better than the actual ferry (before it sank).

Picture1.jpg (40.21 KiB) Viewed 929 times

[PeteC]

Those old wooden ferries give me a chuckle. It looks like Noah's Ark! Probably built 50-60 years ago.

[VincentD]

Back in the very early '80s the ferry was also the only way to get to Samui. The high speed took about 2 hours and was passenger only; the slower one which could ferry vehicles took between 5-6 hours. No airport back then..