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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2014
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Since 2011 / Volume IV / No 7
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CHALONG PIER FEES CUT IN WAKE OF BOATMEN PROTEST > PAGE 4
THIRD DIVE BOAT SINKS
NEWS
PAGE 3
Heart attack claims popular Russian diver
LIFE
LIFE PAGE 3
BISP teacher shows students how it’s done
Smiling as they approach Chalong onboard the fishing boat that rescued them are some of the 15 French tourists saved after the dive boat Bunmee I caught fire and sank.
Alasdair Forbes & Claire Connell editor@classactmedia.co.th
T
he toll of dive boats lost at sea in the past 16 days has risen to three, with one sinking last Sunday (February 10) in Burmese waters and news emerging of another having sunk near the Hin Daeng-Hin
Muang dive site on February 1. Both had to be abandoned after fire on board, most likely caused by electrical faults. The two sinkings come on top of the loss of the dive boat Magic Carpet on January 29 after something snagged in the propeller and smashed a hole in the hull (as reported in the
February 7 issue of The Phuket News, see thephuketnews.com). News of the February 1 loss of the MV Bunmee I near Hin Daeng-Hin Muang, around 60km southwest of Koh Lanta, emerged only this week after The Phuket News was contacted by one of the passengers. The sinking had been kept very
quiet, with rumours but no facts circulating in dive industry circles. That was until the passenger, asking to be named only as Xavier, gave The Phuket News details. He said that five crew and 15 French tourists, ranging in age from 38 to 67, were rescued after the dive boat caught fire and sank.
SPORT
A layman’s fishing guide to local waters
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
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