Boat crash at Thai floating market kills tourist

By CS Thana

BANGKOK

A boat crash at a popular Thai floating market has left a foreign tourist dead and 22 others injured, local media reported Saturday.

The accident happened Friday night when a tourist boat, carrying passengers to see fireflies, crashed into another vessel that was travelling at high speed in the Mae Klong River in Amphawa district, central Samut Songkhram province.

The crash killed a 61-year-old Hungarian woman who suffered serious head injuries from the crash, while the injured included 21 South Korean tourists, according to the Bangkok Post.

Four of the injured were rushed to the hospital in serious condition.

The Post cited police as saying that the driver of the boat carrying the tourists may have turned off the lights so fireflies would be more visible.

The drivers of both boats disappeared after the accident, but will be summoned for questioning.

The floating markets and idyllic riverfront of Amphawa, a major tourist attraction in Thailand’s central region near the Bay of Bangkok, were awarded UNESCO's Heritage Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation in 2008.