Speeding tour boats continue to ignore safety laws

The ‘close pass’ resulted in a leg injury which required a private yacht passenger to be taken to hospital from Royal Phuket Marina by ambulance.

The speed limit in the approach to the channel, as marked by sign posts, is just five knots.

The ‘near miss’ happened at 5:15pm on Apr 3, with the injured passenger reporting several speedboats speeding through the channel, which is marked by posts to indicate safe passage into the channel.

The tide was just coming in, meaning the water depth in the channel was only 1.5 metres. The wake of several speedboats passing rocked the private motor yacht, but one speedboat in particular passed close by at an estimated 25 knots, the passenger told The Phuket News.

The wake from the speedboat rocked the motor yacht enough to cause a passenger to fall, seriously injuring his leg. Unable to walk, the passenger was taken from Royal Phuket Marina to hospital by ambulance. Doctors confirmed that no bones were broken in the fall, but the passenger still has great difficulty walking, and has undergone continuing physical therapy.

Of note, at 76-feet long (23m), the motor yacht affected by the passing speedboat is not small, and even sports a fly-bridge and four cabins.

The failure of speedboats to navigate the channel and its approach safely continues following a 12-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl being killed in a tour speedboat collision in the channel in 2020.

Royal Phuket Marina and Phuket Boat Lagoon, from where most of the tour boats using the channel operate, were notfiied of the injury within days of incident.