2 Chinese tourists killed in Pattaya speed boat accident

The accident happened at 12:30 pm near the Bali Hai Cape pier. Muang Pattaya Police officers and rescue workers rushed to the scene where a one-engine speed boat namely Thawatchainamchok 7 collided with the other one-engine speed boat namely Sor Newfrans.

While the former - with 29 tourists from China, South Korea and Taiwan onboard along with a tour guide and a boat driver - sunk right away into the sea bottom, the other boat - with 13 tourists from Middle East, England and Russia along with two boat drivers - stuck onto the shallow water 30 meters offshore.

Two Chinese tourists, who died on the way to a hospital, were identified as Zheng Honglu, 57, and Chen Ding Chan, 50.

Chinese Tour guide Thavee Saejong said that he and the Asian tourists were on the Thawatchainamchok 7 boat heading from Koh Lan towards the Pattaya shore, while the Sor Newfran boat heading towards Koh Lan for scuba diving collided with their boat out of the blue.

Muang Pattaya deputy superintendent Pol Lt Col Chanapat Nawalak said the initial police investigation found that the two boats drove in the opposite direction to one another, arriving at and departing from the pier, when a side of Sor Newfran boat hit the other boat's rear, causing both boats to break and sink. Police was aiming to press the charge of reckless driving causing other people's deaths and injuries against both boats' drivers.