Norwegian tourist dies in a boat accident while diving

The 22-year-old tourist, Silje Fauskerud Mathisen, was pronounced dead on the way to a medical facility, said Pol Captain Chakkapong Kaewkhao of Koh Tao Police Station. The tourist’s body would undergo autopsy while police investigate the incident and interview the boat’s driver, Nathakorn Meekwan, 23, and her diving instructor. Nathakown was initially charged with reckless driving, causing another’s death. 

 Witnesses told police that the woman was diving in shallow water under the instructor’s supervision when the propeller blade of a passing-by boat hit her in the back of head. The boat rushed her to Koh Tao Inter Hospital but she succumbed to the injury.

In the same province, a Russian tourist also died yesterday, after his compatriot was earlier killed by acute decompression sickness during reportedly unauthorised diving at the Ratchaprapa Dam (Chiao Lan) in Ban Ta Khun district on Sunday. 

The group of four Russians, who had chartered a boat from Phuket to visit the dam, dived into the 30-metre-deep water. The 46-year-old Dmitry Dokuchave suffered from acute decompression sickness and died at the scene, while his friend Marsym Polejaice was seriously injured and initially rushed to Ban Ta Khun Hospital. Polejaice was pronounced dead yesterday at 1.30am at Surat Thani Hospital.