Warning-dangerous boat trips

by **BKKSTAN** » March 21, 2008, 10:49 am

Bangkok Post:

Boats underfire on river

THEERAWAT KHAMTHITA

CHIANG RAI : Two long-tail boats carrying people along the Mekong river came under fire from armed men on Wednesday, leaving one dead and several injured. The attack took place near Muang Pong pier near the Burma-Laos border, about 15 kilometres north of the Golden Triangle in Chiang Saen district, said Pakorn Pochaikoop, commander of a Mekong river patrol boat unit.

The unidentified group opened fire on the two boats in the same area a Chinese patrol boat was attacked on Feb 25, he said. Authorities could not identify the victims as the injured swam ashore and were rescued by local people on the Laos side of the river.

by **jingjai** » March 23, 2008, 11:10 pm

In '98, I took a long-tailed from exactly that same area. Except we must've been further upriver. There wasn't any sign of civilization.
I remember thinking: "this is it, I am really in the middle of fu*cking NOWHERE! This guy driving the boat, could pull a gun, rob me, shoot me and dump my body in the river, and no one would ever have a clue as to what happened to me."
I'm still here to remember it. Would I do it again? Hell yeah! It was great!

by **arjay** » March 24, 2008, 12:49 am

In terms of boats on the Mekong and on the Laos side, many are overloaded, unsafe, with no lifejackets and travel fast on water with floating logs and other debris!

by **beer monkey** » March 24, 2008, 5:09 am

Yes agreed arjay i've seen plenty of floating logs on the waterways of some parts of thailand.

Warning-dangerous boat trips

Warning-dangerous boat trips

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