SUNDAY 3rd NOVEMBER, 2013:
MORE DETAILS, HERE TO SEE A BBC NEWS ARTICLE
Later on Sunday Royal Thai navy Divers were brought in from their base in Sattahip District to begin the task of searching for those missing presumed drowned which is thought to number more than 15.
TUESDAY 5th: LEFT: Brunch on the beach. Very fresh shellfish and a hot corn followed by a dip in that there sea beyond. RIGHT: Part of Na Kluea beach, north of Pattaya. Our usual dossing place, a small cove is just beyond the rocks in the background.
THURSDAY 7th:
A narrow escape for us today as we seriously considered taking another trip to Koh Lan on the ferry. However it was another day too hot to go out anywhere outdoors. It was also a Sunday and we reckoned it'd be too crowded. So, at the last minute, we decided to give the trip a miss.
IT WAS SET TO BE A GOOD MOVE.... we would almost certainly, as usual, have been on the last ferry back to Pattaya!!!.... read on...
We heard/saw on Thai TV of a "FERRY SINKING IN PATTAYA":
Dozens of ambulances were at the scene at Pattaya Port.
Police want to talk to the ferry captain to try to ascertain the cause of the accident.
We'll hear more about this in the morning but we both feel somewhat fortunate at making the decision we did make.
I've made a number of ferry crosings from Pattaya to the islands on these ferries and have noted and commented on how overloaded they get. When all the seating is full, they still pack people on who have to sit around on both upper and lower decking.
Fortunately, the seas in the Gulf of Thailand rarely get rough but it has always been at the back of my mind that what if a storm hit.
In this case it appeared that engine failure occurred and that for some reason passengers panicked and headed for the upper deck thus making the ferry unstable and top-heavy; a capsize was inevitable.
SUNDAY (cont'd):
However, the disaster apart, (we had not learned of the sinking of the ferry until late evening) it was a bright and cloudless day from dawn and at 15:00 it was 36º INSIDE the apartment. So air-conditioning on I think.
Aom ventured out to change the motorbike again and returned with another Yamaha; a black and red number this time. Later in the afternoon she's gone off to visit her cousin Aire who lives 5 minutes away from the apartment; so that'll be a several-hour nattering session which gives me time to write more of this crap in the heat. Met up with Aom's friend Dow for a beer (not Chang!!) as she's a little up set over a personal problem.
MONDAY 4th NOVEMBER:
OK, I hear more on the ferry sinking and it would appear more lives were lost as a result of the ferry sinking. Here's the latest:
Current reports suggest at least 6 people have been killed and up to 200 people have been injured in, what is being described as, Pattaya’s worst marine accident in living history.
Just after 4pm on Sunday reports began to come in of a Passenger Ferry which had sunk off the coast of Ko Larn Island. It was quickly confirmed that the boat was carrying far more people than it is licensed to.
As of time of publication the names or nationalities of those who have died have not been officially confirmed and the figure is set to rise, as up to 20 of the injured are currently in critical condition in Hospital. One Police source suggested 3 Thai Nationals, 2 Russians and 1 Chinese Tourists were those that died and others are feared missing presumed drowned.
The boat which sank was named as the “Koh Larn Travel 1” Ferry which is a 2-decked ferry with a licensed capacity of 150 passengers. It has now been confirmed that 209 passengers were on-board when it sank approximately 500 meters off the coast of Nuan Beach on Larn island, approximately 7kms off the coast of Pattaya.
Emergency vessels and private vessels were quickly on-scene to help those in the water. Some were administered CPR at the scene which continued at the Bali Hai Port. The list of those who lost their lives is expected to be released within the next 24 hours.
This is the ferry that sank. It's the one we were on a few days before when I took this photo before boarding.
The Captain of the vessel was named as Khun Saman aged 42 who is believed to have somehow escaped before rescue boats arrived and is now wanted by Police. An arrest warrant for him is expected to be issued on Monday. He is thought to have first collected passengers from Tawean Beach on the Island and then moved round to Nuan Beach. This was the last ferry to leave Koh Larn Island on Sunday which is why so many people were on-board. It was also reported that the ferry had returned from the boatyard 2 weeks ago after undergoing extensive repairs and renovations.
How the Pattaya authorities who are responsible for Marine safety respond to this tragedy is still unclear but recent promises to enforce regulations at sea to prevent major disasters such as this one appear to have been broken.
My personal opinion is that of sheer greed; to pack in as many passengers as they can. One thing is clear, however, this last-ferry-of-the-day was always going to be busier than the rest as passengers made the most of their day out to the island's beaches. There are well-sufficient ferries to send a second boat to Koh Larn to cater for the additional passengers, but as stated, greed and maybe incompetence, apathy and lassitude took its toll here.
The Marine Department will investigate the cause of the ferry’s capsizing, but an initial investigation suggested the deaths and injuries stemmed from overloading and insufficient safety equipment.
The news is that the captain of the ferry turned himself into police on Sunday night, hours after his ferry capsized.
The Chon Buri police chief, said the Captain confessed to officers that he took some drugs before going to work, and that he and the crew lost control of the vessel as a result. He allegedly confessed the ferry wandered off course, and hit rocks, breaching the vessel, punching holes and letting water pour in.
Survivors reported shouting at the Captain to stop the boat as water was coming on-board fast, but the Captain initially refused to stop until it was too late.
According to a newspaper report the Captain realised the problem, so he turned off all power so he could try to fix the water pump. He issued no warning to his passengers, supposedly so they would not panic.
However, after 10 minutes so much water had flowed into the bottom deck of the two-deck boat that passengers had indeed begun to panic. Squabbles broke out, apparently because there were not enough life jackets to go around, the Captain allegedly told police. Panic broke out when passengers rushed to the upper deck thus making the vessel top heavy; a capsize was inevitable. The vessel sank within a few minutes.
The Marine Department has already revoked the Captain's licence.
At a press conference led by the Senior Adviser to the National Police Commissioner, it was confirmed that the Captain would be charged with multiple offences relating to negligence causing multiple deaths and injuries to his passengers.
Let's hope that these ferries will now be better controlled and valuable lessons learnt, but I, for one, am not holding my breath.
A "nothing" day today. We drove down to Soi Buakhao Market and Aom shopped whilst I sat in a coffee bar with an iced cappuccino (way too hot and stuffy in the market for me) and that was the highlight of the day apart from watching with amusement from my coffee-bar seat some Russians returning to their parked car and trying to work out how to remove the clamp the traffic fuzz had fitted. Dozy buggers should have read the (multilingual) signs which forbade parking on odd-days (even-day's parking allowed on the opposite side). I mean if you were looking for a parking spec and saw a roadside totally devoid of parked cars in a busy city street you would have thought something would have clicked... idiots.
Last night we went out to a good restaurant on Second Road. Really excellent food. Spring Rolls, garlic bread to accompany Aom's' huge medium-rare steak and trimmings. I opted for lamb-shank which was absolutely gorgeous; the meat just fell off the bone but one big disappointment was the restaurant was deficient in mint-sauce. I mean to say, lamb without mint sauce??
A bottle of excellent Argentinian Medoc lubricated our tonsils whilst we indulged. The follow-up was, for Aom chocolate fudge cake and ice-cream and a lovely cheese-board for me.
More wine was necessary to accompany the cheese and this was enhanced by the restaurant manager donating a couple more glasses on the house.
As stated on previous pages, the quality of restaurant food in Thailand is generally very good; you rarely get a bad steak, for instance. A good night out and romantic to-boot!
No such thing as Bonfire Night here of course, so no big bangs, whistles and crackling noises. Pity in a way because when the Thais do set off fireworks they are spectacular.
WEDNESDAY 6th:
Latish start so drove across to Na Kluea at eleven-ish and down to the small cove we like. Found a good spot beneath the trees at the water's edge and chilled-out swimming and dossing until around 16:00.
Popped back to the apartment for a quick shower (sorry, did I say "quick"; when Aom's in the shower it aint quick!) and then drove down to the Poker Bar on Beach Road and relaxed over a few beers and watched the sun set over the sea behind the palm-trees. 
Pleasantly overcast this morning for a change. The baking-hot sun has gone into semi-hiding for a spell.... nice, but still 29ºC.
Another visit to the cinema in the afternoon. Watched a 3D version of "Thor".
These Thai cinemas really are excellent and so bloody comfy. This is the first time I've watched a cinema movie and being able to almost lie down fully.
Post-cinema called for a swift beer on the way home and then dinner.
|  |