Statement from the Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor about the boat incidents in Phuket

Statement about the Boat Accidents in Phuket
by
Mr. Yuthasak Supasorn
 Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand
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A marine tourism accident occurred in Phuket on 5 July, 2018, at 17:45 Hrs., resulting in a large number of casualties and injured, mostly Chinese tourists. The Royal Thai Government expresses its deepest sympathies to the relatives and families of those who suffered losses in this tragic event.

Initially, it was believed that the accident was caused by storms and weather conditions in Southern Thailand. However, the relevant authorities are still investigating the exact cause. Immediately after the incident, all responsible agencies, both in the public and private sectors, as well as people in the area were fully mobilised in the search and rescue operations to find survivors as well as to provide assistance to all victims in terms of medical services, transportation, interpretation and communication.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) would like to emphasise that we will do everything possible to extend the maximum care and attention to survivors. Search operations are still ongoing in a coordinated manner by all relevant agencies. We will also heighten safety measures for Chinese tourists in Thailand to prevent such accidents from occurring again in the future. This is consistent with the policy of the Thai tourism industry to consider and initiate ways to focus not only on the volume of tourists, but also provide and maintain quality services.

TAT will put our extreme efforts to do what we can to help alleviate the situation. The 5 TAT offices in China: Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming, Chengdu and Guangzhou are ready to help and act as coordination centres for those people wanting any information updates on the incident.

Issued on 08 July, 2018 at 09.00 Hrs.