The sun was shining on a beautiful Phuket morning.
Three young Australian girls – all visiting the island for the first time – would soon board a speedboat bound for Phi Phi.
Sisters Tegan Larin, 24, and Rahni, 27, along with their cousin Samara Dove, 25, arrived at the Chalong Pier early on the morning of Wednesday, January 30, excited about their impending trip.
“We went to the port to get on the speedboat and the tour leader told us to get to the front, and that it was okay. When we got up there, we did not get a life vest or anything like that. She just said hold the rail,” Rahni said.
“It was fine for the start – the first 10 minutes were big waves, but not too bad.”
But soon came much stronger waves, which were initially a bit of a thrill for the girls.
“We all got soaked because of the water coming down,” Rahni explained.
But then, “another wave came, and we all went up about one metre in the air and then fell crashing down,” she said.
“Me and my sister landed on our backs and we could not move – we lay on the floor screaming. Tegan hit her nose and her mouth, and both were bleeding.”
Tegan, 24, had two back fractures.
Elsewhere in the boat, American tourist Maria Genetti had a deep gash on her leg, while a Malaysian girl had suffered a serious “rip” to her ear.
“The American girl she said she hit the seat, which had a metal part on it which cut her leg. She could see the tissue inside,” Rahni said.
“The girl who had the cut ear was panicking. I think she thought she was going to lose her ear. Samara had to comfort her to make her calm down.”
Another Indonesian girl also had a wounded leg, was having trouble breathing and had suffered a back injury.
The Australian sisters described to The Phuket News how difficult the rescue was once the boat reached shore, with the injured lying on top of each other – most unable to move.
The sisters are less than happy with the way the boat driver reacted to the incident, saying he was driving “carelessly”.
“Apart from not giving us the life jackets... when the wave got bigger, he drove faster instead of slowing down,” Rahni said.
“It was so dangerous, when the wave got too big, he [the boat driver] drove faster, he just kept going faster and faster and there were no life jackets.”
“I spoke to two other girls in a different boat [after the accident] and they said when the waves got big their driver slowed down.”
The two sisters work in Australia – Tegan studies while working part time, while Rahni takes care of young children. Their jobs were on hold until earlier this week, when Tegan was well enough to be discharged and return to Australia.
It was understood all the injured tourists were covered by the tour company’s insurance.
However, Rahni said she had to pay an additional B9,000 before she returned home, plus fund the cost for the back braces for her and her sister, plus Rahni’s follow-up hospital visit and medication. Both girls are also hoping to visit a back specialist in Australia.
“We would also really like to receive some compensation as we both will miss out on quite a lot of work,” Rahni said on Wednesday.
To counter media reports, the company in charge of the tour, Andawaree Co Ltd, held a press conference last weekend to give its side of the story.
At the event, owners Kritsada and Omduan Pichetpongsanon said that the waves were always strong in the area where the accident occurred, but were exceptionally strong on January 30.
Mr Kritsada described the accident as a ‘force majeure’, and said it was fortunate that no-one on-board the boat was more seriously injured.
He explained that the boat driver is a professional and fully licensed driver, with almost 20 years experience. The tour guide that day also added that the driver had in fact averted a bigger accident.
Andawaree company tour guide Maneerat Jeemanop, who was the tour guide on board at the time of the incident, said the driver was not careless.
“If the driver had not increased speed when he did, the accident would have been much more serious. He did it because he had to fight with the wave instead of let the wave move the boat. I think he knew what he had to do in that situation,” she said.
Ms Maneerat said life vests were given to all passengers who sat inside the boat, but not to passengers who sat outside or on the front of the boat – where the three Australians were sitting. Their life vests, Ms Maneerat said, were in a pile on the floor where they could access them. She also says she told the Australian sisters to hold the rail.
Pol Lt Col Chatchai Sakdee of the Phuket Marine Police said that after investigating, they could confirm that both the boat and driver were licensed.
“The accident was not due to any carelessness on the part of the driver as he has great experience of driving boats and the big wave that day was completely unexpected,” Lt Col Chatchai said.