Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, Vice Governor Prajiad Aksornthammakul and TAT Phuket Director Anoma Vongyai led a team of officials to check upon the five Chinese victims who remain in Vachira Hospital while recovering from the injuries they sustained during the recent speedboat collision off Phuket.
The incident, which happened on June 8, left two Chinese tourists dead and more than 30 injured when the speedboats they were travelling on during a day trip collided between Phuket and Koh Phi Phi. (See story here.)
Ms Kobkarn said, “I am here on behalf of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha who has expressed great concern for tourists’ safety.
“First and foremost, we must take care of the tourists who were injured as a result of this tragic incident and wish them a speedy recovery. As of today there are now only five victims still in hospital and they are being monitored closely by doctors and nurses,” she said.
“Secondly, every department involved needs to discuss strategies for water accident prevention and assure us that this type of accident will never happen again in the future.
“I talked briefly about this issue to the vice governor, officials at Phuket Marine Office and police and told them that we all have to take this as a hard lesson and work in collaboration with each other to find ways to make land and water tourism safer for tourists,” she added.
Ms Kobkarn went on to say that there are numerous safety measures which can be added to those that are already in place for marine tourism such as speed limits for boats, extensive testing and training for boat operators beyond basic skills and emergency preparedness for boat operators.
“The investigation into the crashed is still on going, we have not neglected this case, but officials have to follow the laws and procedures which can take time,” she concluded.