Boat victims promised Bt300,000 each from govt
Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat said on Friday that the families of the victims of the boat accident in Phuket would get Bt300,000 from the government.
The numbers of tourists, most of them Chinese, killed were still being revised by the authorities. The Phoenix dive boat was carrying 105 passengers – 93 tourists and 12 crew and tour guides – when it sank near Phuket on Thursday. More bodies were being found today (Friday).
Weerasak said his ministry has a fund to compensate the families of tourists injured or killed in accidents.
Those injured would receive up to Bt500,000 each towards medical bills.
Weerasak said the ministry has set up a coordination centre for efforts to help the tourists.
The centre would coordinate agencies to provide help in case they lost their travel documents and the centre would ensure that the tourists would receive all their rights.
Weerasak said the Phoenix has a license issued to the TC Blue Dream Co Ltd and the company has bought insurance for passengers. He said each dead victim’s family would receive Bt1 million in compensation from the insurance policy while an injured would receive Bt500,000.