Speedboat collides with oil tanker off Phuket; several tourists injured

The Nation/Asia News Network

PHUKET — Several Chinese tourists were injured, one seriously, when the speedboat taking them back to Phuket after a day on Koh Phi Phi struck a small oil tanker on Saturday afternoon.

The speedboat Sai Nam was carrying 10 Chinese passengers, including two children, between Koh Rung and Koh Ma Phrao when it collided with the Choke Kriangkrai. The speedboat did not sink and the steel tanker sustained only minor damage.

The tourists were transferred to a nearby tour boat and the injured were taken to Mission Hospital in Phuket Town.

Marine police were investigating the cause of the collision.

On Friday, a speedboat carrying 23 Chinese tourists hit submerged reefs and sank as it was cruising around Koh Samet off Rayong. All the tourists were recovered by another speed boat, two of them with minor injuries.

The incidents follow promises from marine police to ramp up safety inspections of vessels carrying tourists following last year’s Phoenix disaster, in which 47 Chinese tourists perished off the south west coast of Phuket.