Phoenix boat owner’s lawyer calls for ‘fairness’

The lawyer of the owner of Phoenix filed a letter to the Phuket Provincial Police Commander for ‘fairness’ in legal action being taken against the boat’s owner.

At the Phuket Provincial Police Station the lawyers for the boat owner, Nalin Intarasombat and Nipit Intarasombat, spoke to the press after handing a letter to Phuket’s Police Commander.

Lawyer Nipit says, “the boat owner has been charged with a reckless act causing death. We are wondering what evidence police have that they can charge her with that. If police say the boat has been modified, have any of them dived to check the boat?”

The Thai ‘owner’ of Phoenix, 26 year old Woraluck Rueakchaiyakan from Phuket, remains in custody after she surrendered following the issuing of an arrest warrant in the wake of the boat sinking last month.

Read more about the original arrest of the boat’s owner HERE.

“The Tourist Police have questioned Worraluck. They forced her to admit that she is a nominee for a foreign company. They said if she hadn’t admitted it, they would also take action against her parents and brother. If she admitted that she is a nominee, they will not oppose the bail.

“Worraluck told me that she admitted being a nominee for a foreigner. She doesn’t want her family to be involved with the situation as there will be no one looking after her one year old child. We have a record of a conversation between Worraluck’s elder brother and the Tourist Police.”

“We are sure that Phoenix was legal. The tragedy is an accident caused by strong wind and waves. They had already departed from the pier and were half way into their journey. If they turned back the incident would have been worse than this. This incident has nothing to do with the boat owner.”

“For the issue of not salvaging the boat, the boat owner noted that the Phoenix was 45 metres underwater. It was not blocking any other boats and not causing pollution. So this is not an offence in the Navigation in Thai Waters Act.”

“Also the cost of salvage was quoted up to 45 million baht. The company would be unable to cope with that price. A private company said they could salvage the boat for only 4 million baht. If they are failed to salvage the boat they said they will not take the money. We do not understood why the government quoted a very high price.”