Pattaya—
On December 31st, 2023, Pattaya reporters publicly revealed an account on Facebook, Louis San, posting a complaint regarding the Pattaya Maritime Disaster Prevention Office as it was allegedly difficult to reach and responded nonchalantly.
The netizen reportedly using the name Louis San posted on Facebook after he and his friends went on a fishing trip near Koh Phai, however, one of the boats had an engine failure. As a result, one of the boats was unable to operate during high waves also, reported the Pattaya News and other local media.
According to the post by Louis San, he reportedly tried to contact the Pattaya Maritime Disaster Prevention Office to ask for help 5 times until the officials responded to the call.
However, the officials allegedly asked Louis San to call another number as the boat where they were was out of the Pattaya authorized area and gave a number for the Koh Lan Maritime Disaster Prevention Office instead.
Louis San reportedly posted that Koh Lan officials also allegedly asked Louis San to call back to another number which were the same Pattaya officials who recently gave the number to Louis San.
Later, another official contacted Louis San and allegedly said that December 31st was a holiday so they could not withdraw fuel costs from the office because it was closed and could not come…despite the emergency.
After a few hours passed, Louis San and his friends reportedly had to rescue themselves to the shore safely afterward without a helping hand from any responsible agencies available.
Louis San asked the relevant agencies to mark the importance of lives and victims who asked for help needed to be responded to quickly as it was a death-and-life situation, the Pattaya News and other local media reported.
The incident stirred hundreds of online complaints against the government officials who allegedly lacked responsibility for the incident, noted the Pattaya News.
Many people online who claimed they were fishermen also claimed they often had to respond to emergencies themselves because of similar situations. The Pattaya News notes that these claims have not been independently verified and the statements were those of the individuals posting and not TPN media.
The Pattaya News notes that relevant government officials had yet to give their side of the story as of press time and many people were looking forward to their explanation.
