9 April 2015
A 12-year-old girl has died following a fire on a ferry which was travelling from Krabi to Phuket. More than 100 passengers were forced to jump into the sea to escape the blaze which took hold in the engine room of the Ao Nang Princess ferry yesterday afternoon.
Passengers had been instructed to don life-jackets before jumping from the burning ferry which sunk off the coast of Krabi’s Nopparat Thara beach. Fishing boats and speedboats were quickly on the scene and able to rescue all but one of the passengers and crew. Local reports say the ferry was operated by Ao Nang Travel and Tour Company.
This latest tragedy on Thailand’s waterways is one of a series of boat accidents in recent years and will once again call into question marine safety standards in the kingdom.
