Collision at Sea on the Liveaboard "The Junk" in Thailand

[rickcavanaugh]

We were on the Liveaboard the Junk in Thailand from jan 21 2012 to Jan 27 2012. On the last day of diving we were returning and a fish boat struck us midship on the right side at around midnight.

The lighting boom of the fishing boat went through the salon window. The bow put a hole through the hull about 3 feet above the water line. The hole was in one of the cabins above the top bed. The bow also tore up the gunwale pretty good. No one got hurt.

Not sure how the crew missed this as "The Junk" has radar. Wouldn't a proximity alarm go off?

I recently heard a story of someone who sleeps with a spareair and a flashlight in his cabin. Makes me think......

Full report of the trip with photos of the damage to the boat at:

The Junk Liveaboard and Patong, Phuket | Scuba Trip Reviews

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[DazedAndConfuzed]

did everybody report to the muster station in preparation for the evacuation of the boat?

 

[rickcavanaugh]

They did not even sound the alarm! Everyone was in their cabins asleep. They did an inspection and saw no leaks so they did not wake anyone. Eventually 6 of the 7 guests went up on deck. One was passed out in his cabin.

No refresher on where the safety gear was, I had to ask exactly where the life jackets were on the top deck. Each room had life jackets hanging and they mentioned in their safety brief about them handing out life jackets on deck.

 

[robint]

Wow. Really scary!

I am a fanatic about keeping a dive light next to my bed on ALL liveaboards because I read the book "No Safe Harbor" about the Belize tragedy. The only reason a few of the people got out of the boat after it capsized was because they had a dive light. It's not that I worry about something like that happening to me, but it is nice to have a light in case there is any emergency in the middle of the night!

robin

 

[bleeb]

I am a fanatic about keeping a dive light next to my bed on ALL liveaboards because I read the book "No Safe Harbor" about the Belize tragedy. The only reason a few of the people got out of the boat after it capsized was because they had a dive light. It's not that I worry about something like that happening to me, but it is nice to have a light in case there is any emergency in the middle of the night!

Not only on dive boats, but that suggestion has been made for all boats (can anyone say "Costa Concordia"?) and even multi-story hotels, especially those in the many popular tourist destinations where governmental safety regulations requiring things like emergency lighting and emergency exits are less common.

 

[Doubler]

Many of these boats are steered by computer and nobody really pays attention to what is going on around them. Super tankers to fishing boats all do the same. Lucky it wasn't a Super Tanker that hit you.
So your boat gets hit and the Captain doesn't muster the guests and crew? How does he know that no one is injured or worse knocked overboard. Stupid! Very poor Captain IMO

 

[Oldbear]

...So your boat gets hit and the Captain doesn't muster the guests and crew? How does he know that no one is injured or worse knocked overboard. Stupid! Very poor Captain IMO

When I took the Junk last March the Thai crew was about six boat hands, the cook and cook's son and then there were two non-Thai Dive Master guides. They all slept within a few feet of each other up top with the guests in cabins down below; I do beleive the DMs were also down below too. So there was no need to muster the boat's crew as they were already there...trying to save their tender if you read Rick's report in the OP.

But Doubler, from the description of Rick's report (who was there), you are 100% correct that it appears they showed poor judgement for not informing and checking on the guests. A simple head-count by one of the guides would have been the correct thing to do in IMHO.

...but again I wasn't there so I am not going down the JUDGEMENT BY INTERNET road. I read, I learn, I take away lessons.

I am thankful that no one was hurt.



~ME~