Thai Tourist Ferry Sinks by Phairath Khampha 30 June 2000 Thai marine police rescued 120 tourists from a blazing ferry off the popular southern resort of Phuket. The wooden King Cruiser sank shortly after being engulfed in flames following a fire in the engine room. The 27-metre ferry had been en route to the Phi Phi chain of islands, made famous by the Leonardo DiCaprio film The Beach, which had been filmed there. The tourists were plucked from the burning ferry The tourists, who had come from Hong Kong and Europe, were evacuated to other boats in the Andaman Sea. Reports said none of the passengers was injured. Police were investigating the cause of the blaze which broke out at around 0900 (0200GMT) June 12, 2000. Safety Minister Pavena Hongsakul, who oversees the Tourism Authority of Thailand, had recently vowed to boost safety precautions aboard tourist boats. In October 1999 four Singaporean tourists and their guide died when their tour boat capsized on Bangkok's Chao Phraya river. The tragedy came a year after at least 18 people, including a number of tourists, drowned when a ferry sank in the Gulf of Thailand off the popular Koh Samui resort island. Police suspected the King Cruiser was, as is often the case with Thai vessels,�illegally overloaded with cargo. Rescue boats draw praise Passengers praised the courage and quick action of passing boats for rescuing the tourists and crew from their burning ferry before it sank two nautical miles off Koh Tapaonoi. Ignoring the risk of the ferry�s fuel tanks exploding, the three boats went alongside the stricken 34-metre vessel and safely evacuated the passengers, mainly European and Asian tourists, without injury. The evacuees were later ferried to nearby islands. Marine police commander Colonel Miskawan Buara said he had received a report at 9.10am that a fire had broken out on a cruise boat carrying about 120 tourists from Phuket to Phi Phi island. Police boats were despatched to the scene, but passengers had already been rescued by three boats that were passing by. He said all passengers were safe but some had lost their possessions during the evacuation from the wooden-hulled ferry. The ferry�s captain, Dol Rohnee, and engineer, Karheem Kongbamrung, were detained on charges of negligence, Miskawan said. Police Major Narong Netbutr said the fire might have been caused by a shortcircuit in the engine room or a fuel line leakage. According to Karheem, the fire broke out in the engine room and spread throughout the vessel. Karheem reportedly attempted to contain the blaze, but it soon got out of control. Narong said the boat had sunk after burning for two hours. Nilam Kaboo, a tourist aboard, said passengers had panicked when the fire broke out. He said that if the rescue boats had arrived any later there might have been casualties. Kaboo said he had lost all his possessions. Suzanna Lau, general manager of the Hong Thai travel company in Hong Kong, said there were 55 Hong Kong holidaymakers on board the ferry. �Fortunately the evacuation was very efficient, and everyone was transferred to another ship before the fire became very serious,� she said.