- 20 dead, 12 missing, 44 injured in tourist boat accident in Thailand in Ayutthaya
- Boat sank on Sunday but not all of the passengers have been located
A boat designed to carry around fifty passengers, carrying three times that amount, sank on Sunday in Thailand on the Chao Phraya river after colliding with a concrete bridge. Twenty people are reported dead, twelve missing, and 44 injured. Many on the boat were pilgrims returning from a religious ceremony in a local mosque.
Mr Virat Chaisirikul, the helmsman, has been charged with reckless driving. He claims that he was unable to limit the number of passengers on the boat and that the sinking was not the result of carelessness, but of the difficult conditions and strong current involved.
Sorasak Saensombat of the Marine Department suggested that safety equipment on the boat may have been inadequate, and strong currents at that part of the river contributed to the collision.
