Phang Nga trawler tragedy: 1 dead, 5 missing

PHUKET CITY: One man is dead and five still missing following a collision between a Phang Nga-based fishing trawler and a cargo ship off the coast of Chonburi.

Kiattipong Parnsa-nga, 28-year-old captain of the trawler Sangjaroern 10, said the 21-meter vessel capsized after suddenly being struck by a cargo ship at about 2am yesterday.

The accident occurred as the crew members were busy hauling in nets full of fish and squid and storing them in the vessel’s cold storage compartment, said Mr Kiattipong.

Mr Kiattipong is a native of Phang Nga’s Takua Thung district, just over the Sarasin Bridge from Phuket.

Notified of the accident, authorities met the survivors when they reached shore at Khao Ma Jaw pier in Chonburi’s Sattahip District.

The body of the deceased crew member, a 26-year-old Burmese man identified only as “Pon”, was taken to Sattahip Hospital.

Five other crew members are still missing. It is suspected that they were also caught in netting and pulled under when the vessel sank.

Mr Kiattipong and four other crew members trod water until they were picked up shortly thereafter by Sangjaroern 11, another trawler from the same fleet that was in the area at the time.