At 1.20 pm on the 28th of August Police Leutenant Sombat of the Pattaya police received a report of a serious speedboat accident off Bali Hai South Pattaya involving fatalities and serious injuries. Police and rescue units rushed to the scene. A twin engined speedboat " Lucky Suwannee 17" had crashed into an anchor rope of a moored boat about 200 meters from Bali Hai pier, flipped and ejected it's passengers into the water.
The speedboat was on a return run from Koh Larn island with 28 Chinese tourists and crew on board. All were now in the water, floating waiting for rescue, attempting to swim to shore and unfortunately two were already dead.
The dead Chinese tourists were later identified as Mr. Zhang Tao aged 29. and Mr. Dong Feiyue aged 30. They had sustained major wounds from the propellers of the speedboat. The bodies were recovered from the water and sent for a post mortem to be carried out.
There were also 8 other people injured and they were quickly transported to hospital for emergency treatment except for the speedboat driver who was also injured in the crash with facial injuries who was given a ride to Pattaya Police station to face charges related to the incident.
Rescuers reported that there was panic amongst the tourists in the water as many were injured, all were in shock and some were not wearing life jackets and finding it difficult to stay afloat.
The tour guide Mr.Guang Chai of Titan Travel Ltd testified that before the accident he had taken the party from the Hotel Ayara in Naklua for a boat trip to Koh Larn island but on the way back the boat speedboat named the boat that collided with a small anchor rope he said he wasn't wearing a life jacket because he did not think this sort of thing could happen.
Later in the afternoon the injured were visited at Pattaya Memorial Hospital by the Mayor of Pattaya, Chief of Banglamung District, Deputy Minister for Transport and the Governor of Chonburi Province. They wanted to console the victims and listen to their accounts of the incident so that a thorough investigation could be carried out.
The survivors were immediately offered financial aid by the Pattaya City Administration to ensure that medical expenses were covered and they could concentrate on their recovery.
