Koh Samui
Briton’s body found four days after Samui speed boat sank in storm

PHUKET: The search for a British national, who disappeared after a speedboat sinking near Koh Samui on Thursday afternoon, is over, after officials reportedly recovered the man’s body yesterday.
Samui District chief Paiboon Omak accompanied divers, who found the body of 46-year-old Jason Robert Parnell.
“Due to heavy winds and quick, murky currents, foreign specialists joined us to help recover Mr Parnell’s body,” Mr Paiboon said. “The divers had to work in difficult conditions.”
The speedboat Mr Parnell was aboard was reportedly shuttling 32 tourists, a guide and three crew members, when it capsized due to heavy winds and rough seas off Koh Samui. All tourists on board were foreigners on a day trip to various nearby isles.
Mr Paiboon said the search parties were joined by volunteer rescue worker and diver Georgios Nikolaidis, who ultimately discovered Mr Parnell’s body wedged among rocks and debris.
The rescue team took about two hours to retrieve the body due to difficulty in reaching the spot where he was found.
Mr Paiboon said Mr Parnell’s body was identified by another passenger on the capsized speedboat, whom authorities have declined to name. Mr Parnell was reportedly travelling alone.
The recovery of Mr Parnell’s body marks the fourth death in the incident.
The other three victims were all female, including another Briton, a German and a Chinese tourist, whose body was found on Friday. The boat captain, Sanan Seetakaew, 47, has been charged with recklessness causing death and injuries.
Insurance taken out by the firm that owns the boat offers compensation of up to one million baht per death and reimbursement of up to 500,000 baht for medical treatment per person.
Four of the tourists were taken to hospital for injuries sustained in the accident, including a British woman and an Australian man, who were sent to a hospital in Bangkok, said staff at a Samui hospital. A Romanian woman and a German man involved in the accident were treated at a Samui Hospital.
The United Kingdom’s Foreign Office confirmed the death of a British woman and said it was assisting her family. A spokeswoman said they were aware of another British national in hospital for injuries suffered in the same incident, but did not refer to a third citizen.
“We remain in contact with local authorities in Thailand for further information,” she said.
Prapas Intanaphasart, who heads the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Surat Thani Office, said the incident had some impacts on tourism “but nothing severe”.
Mr Paiboon said officials will be meeting to propose stricter regulations for tourist boats. Among the regulations being considered is an order mandating that every tour company insists on passengers wearing life vests.
— Suchat Hankij
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
25,000 people injected with Covid-19 vaccine this week in Koh Samui

This week, 25,000 people in Koh Samui have been injected with the Covid-19 vaccine. The island plans to vaccinate 70% of its population by July to reach ‘herd immunity’ and reopen the tourist destination to vaccinated travellers, following the Phuket ‘sandbox’ model.
The vaccines were offered to the general public, including expats, at Rajabhat University, Bangkok Hospital Samui, Central Festival and Koh Samui Hospital. Yesterday was the last day for this round of injections, according to a post on the Koh Samui district Facebook page.
Reports from late last month say 50,000 doses were allocated to Koh Samui and a recent report from Pattaya News says another 50,000 doses would be distributed this week, vaccinating another 25,000 people on the island.
One expat, an English teacher on the island, says he waited 12 hours to get a vaccine at Rajabhat. He says luckily his school registered him and set him up with a queue ticket. But things were hectic, the queue numbers were called out in a random order and little to no information was given in English, he says.
The Tourism Association of Koh Samui plans to open up the island to foreign visitors in July, if everything goes to plan. Ideas for promotions are still up in the air, but the latest plan called “Samui Silk” would welcome vaccinated tourists who undergo a 7 day quarantine, the president of the Tourism Association of Koh Samui said, according to Pattaya News.
“Both tourists and locals can be reassured that the reopening is safe under the Samui Silk route. The plan will allow foreign tourists to arrive in Koh Samui and to perform state quarantine for 7 days.
If the tourists are proved negative, then they are allowed to leave the local alternative state quarantine and to travel at designated locations in Samui while locals can be reassured that all tourists are disease-free.”
สมุยครบแล้ว 25,000 คน
ฉีดวัคซีนโควิด 19 รอบที่ 27 เมษายน 2564 เวลา 17.00 น. ณ โรงพยาบาลเกาะสมุย อำเภอเกาะสมุย…
Posted by เทศบาลนครเกาะสมุย on Wednesday, April 7, 2021
SOURCES: Koh Samui City Government | Pattaya News
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Tourism
Has the full moon set on Koh Pha Ngan’s Full Moon Party?

A full moon used to mean a full beach of party-goers along the Haad Rin strip on Thailand’s Koh Pha Ngan. But it hasn’t been like that for a year now as the Gulf of Thailand island waits out the restrictions and border closures caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The crowds of backpackers and revellers aren’t flocking to the monthly event and the shops, bars and cheap accommodation along the tourist strip are shuttered and locked – some of the shop owners and staff will never return.
What started as a back-packer and hippy off-the-beaten-track adventure in the 1980s, in recent years attracted a broader clientele. It’s still a difficult place to get to – either flying in to Koh Samui on the monopolised flights of Bangkok Airways and catching a ferry, or catching a ferry from the mainland of Surat Thani. Koh Pha Ngan now has a lot more to offer than just it’s monthly party of bass-thumping beats and buckets full of…. well we don’t really know what’s in them (neither did the people who drank them).
The sound system was loud, but not very good, security is almost non-existent, good DJs are patchy and there’s a general “it will be OK” attitude that pervades the organisation of the Full Moon Party. There have been different proposals put to the organisers over the years to bring the event up to international standard beach parties, but they’ve fallen by the wayside as the organisers argue “it it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Koh Pha Ngan’s monthly beach rave had its own special attraction despite any perceived or real quality lapses.
The south-east corner of the island actually has 2 Haad Rin beaches, one facing east for sunrises and the more famous, and longer, beach that hosts the monthly beach party.
There’s still a hippy vibe on the island with its numerous yoga and spa retreats but the businesses that remain are barely hanging on without the feature act that would book out most of the accommodation for the BIG night. The Full Moon Party attracted more than 50% of the one million visitors that headed to Koh Pha Ngan every year.
The party has also attracted plenty of bad publicity, as any huge beach party would – illicit drugs, alcohol abuse, sex crimes, the garbage left after each event. And even some cases of violence. But the vast majority of visitors to Thailand’s Full Moon Party just had a damn good time!
A year-long break has allowed some reflection after nearly 4 decades of growth and popularity of the party. Locals and local businesspeople are wondering if there could be a Koh Pha Ngan without the Full Moon Party. Has the island outgrown the one-trick-pony that WAS the monthly beach rave? Could a more sustainable economy be built around wellness, spas and diving?
The island is part of a trio off the coast of Surat Thani. Koh Samui is the largest and most popular. But Koh Tao and Kho Pha Ngan have had their own share of publicity. Koh Tao with its diving and, latterly, some bad world publicity surrounding a high profile murder case and other mysterious misadventures to tourists. Koh Pha Ngan had its big party, and in the last decade or so, some excellent retreats concentrating on wellness, yoga and relaxation.
But the three islands all suffer the same core problem – an airline monopoly that makes trips to the archipelago expensive. Sure, there are ferry services but they are not 100% reliable and can take day out of your itinerary with delays, blah blah. The 3 islands have thrived despite the tyranny of distance and inconvenience. But they could have become much more mainstream if there was an open skies policy for flights to the island or the ferry infrastructure was improved. Perhaps one of the allures of the 3 islands is that they ARE hard to get to?
MAP: Google Maps
But despite the retrospection from townsfolk and businesspeople on Koh Pha Ngan, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few – the island simply cannot survive without the monthly tourist invasion, despite the challenges. Cutting off 20-30,000 monthly visitors, who usually stay for a few more days either side of the party, would be a fatal blow to the island’s economy in the long term.
But the 12 month’s rest for Haad Rin and the organisers will certainly bring some changes to the event. In the short term there will be mask-wearing and social distancing guidelines, a challenge for any alcohol-fuelled social gathering. And the problems of getting there will remain. But Koh Pha Nganians are sure that the event will not only survive but thrive once the tourists start coming again.
The locals are also sure there will be a greater appreciation for the island’s natural beauty and the other tourist assets that need the same amount of investment and attention as the monthly beach party. Cutting off the island’s main economic lifeline proved that Koh Pha Ngan needed to diversify its economy.
For now they’re not sure when the tourists will start flowing back and the party resume, maybe later this year or 2022, but the beach will still be there.
And the full moon will again set in the Gulf of Thailand as the partygoers glance westwards.
PHOTO: Koh Samui Travel
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Koh Samui
Foreigners charged with DUI teach English to Koh Samui probation staff

Foreigners on Koh Samui who have been caught driving while intoxicated are now teaching English to probation officers as part of their community service.
Those with a drink driving charge are ordered by the court to complete 24 hours of community service. The foreigners have been teaching probation staff basic greetings and conversational English as well as grammar and legal terms.
A 70 year old German expat with a DUI charge says he was excited to teach English for his community service hours. The staff at the probation office also say the foreigners have been enthusiastic about teaching.
Teaching English to staff at the island’s Department of Probation is a useful community service plan and also fun, probation chief Witthawan Sunthornkhajit says.
“สนง.คุมประพฤติ เกาะสมุย” ดึงเมาแล้วขับต่างชาติ ช่วยงานสังคม-สอนภาษา เสริมทักษะเจ้าหน้าที่
Posted by กรมคุมประพฤติ Department of Probation on Friday, April 2, 2021
SOURCE: Thai Visa
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