On Thursday morning, a night ferry with more than 100 passengers narrowly avoided catastrophe near Koh Tao Island, located in southern Thailand, when a fire erupted onboard. Fortunately, all passengers and crew were safely evacuated. The fire was allegedly sparked by an electrical short circuit in the engine room.
Passengers aboard the Koh Jaroen 2 ferry were shocked and frightened when they heard a crackling sound and smelled smoke. The ferry was only five minutes away from its destination when the flames engulfed the vessel, forcing many passengers to jump into the sea.
According to the provincial government, the 108 people on board, including 97 passengers and 11 boat crew members, were all rescued by surrounding boats. The overnight ferry departed from Surat Thani province around 11 pm last night and was headed to Koh Tao, the famous tourist island.
When the fire broke out, the Koh Jaroen 2 was about two nautical miles from the shore in the Gulf of Thailand, close to Chalok Ban Kao Bay on the island’s southern side. At 6.40 am, boat operators and officials on Koh Tao were alerted to the incident, and they immediately dispatched nearby boats to assist with the rescue. All the passengers and crew were brought to safety, and the fire was extinguished by 8.20 am.
The passengers were transferred to local hospitals for treatment of smoke inhalation. However, reports said none of them suffered any serious injuries. A witness, Maitree Promjampa, told the AP that the fire started in the engine room and quickly spread to other parts of the ferry. He and other passengers ran to the front of the ship and saw huge plumes of black smoke billowing from the burning vessel.
Promjampa, a US student, described the ordeal as “scary” and praised the authorities’ quick response. He said that some passengers had jumped into the water while others were terrified and tried to keep calm.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but local media reported that it was a short circuit in the engine room. An investigation is underway.
It is not the first time a passenger ferry in Thailand has caught fire. In January, a fire broke out on an overnight ferry between Krabi and Phuket, leaving more than 100 tourists trapped aboard. The ferry was finally able to dock in Phuket the following day. The incident came just days after the death of a Canadian tourist who fell off a train while traveling to Koh Tao.
This incident is one of a series of recent incidents involving ferries in Thailand that have drawn criticism for their poor safety standards, especially among foreign visitors. In 2015, a 12-year-old girl was killed, and many others were injured when her ferry burst into flames on its way to the island of Koh Tao.
