On 12 April 2025, the Thai liveaboard DiveRACE Class E caught hearth on the ultimate evening of a Similan Islands cruise. Everybody survived, however they weren’t unscathed, and the hearth has introduced liveaboard security failings into query but once more. DIVE spoke to a few of the survivors.
Within the early hours of 12 April 2025, the Thailand-based luxurious liveaboard Dive Race Class E caught hearth on the ultimate evening of a five-day cruise via the Similan Islands.
All 16 passengers and ten crew survived, however the incident has not been reported within the international media with the identical depth of scrutiny that adopted the Sea Story catastrophe of November 2024, through which eleven folks died when their Egyptian Crimson Sea liveaboard capsized.
Whereas the Class E hearth survivors escaped with out severe bodily harm, the incident has taken a heavy toll on the psychological well being of those that escaped the inferno, and they’re very conscious that the litany of security failures main as much as their rescue may have made their scenario far, far worse.
No muster drill
Nicole Yeates, who works for the US Division of the Navy, and her husband Joe, a serving US Navy Officer, had been on a three-week, first-class ‘trip-of-a-lifetime’ to Thailand earlier than Joe headed out to sea for an prolonged interval of responsibility.
Nicole, a self-confessed ‘huge journey planner’ who enjoys researching the minutia of a possible vacation, did loads of investigation earlier than selecting DiveRACE Class E (from hereon simply Class E), a well-appointed 34.5-metre steel-hulled vessel launched in 2015 that got here with a wonderful security file and good evaluations.
The couple was picked up within the afternoon of 8 April and boarded Class E within the night with one other 14 divers. They set sail quickly after arriving, and whereas the lead information introduced a security briefing within the saloon, there was no correct muster drill to familiarise the company with the boat’s emergency tools and procedures.
‘We acquired there within the night of 8 April and acquired underway,’ Nicole stated. ‘There was no security briefing aside from a sort of, “right here’s this, there’s that”, you realize?
‘They stated our life jackets are within the state rooms and the life rafts are on the highest deck however there was no drill of any type.’
Chanhyeok ‘Chris’ Kim, a diver from South Korea having fun with his first liveaboard – and who can also be chief officer for a 200,000MT service provider ship – advised the identical story
‘The lead divemaster gave a brief briefing about security directions,’ stated Chris, ‘nonetheless, it was simply: life jacket is in your cabin; life raft is on high.
‘They didn’t inform us about different security tools, for instance, the place of the hearth extinguisher or the hearth alert system. Additionally, they didn’t speak concerning the muster station for fires or the abandon ship scenario.’
No smoke detectors or hearth alarm
For a lot of the voyage, the whole lot was nearly good, and Nicole offers reward to the crew the place it’s due. ‘Issues had been environment friendly,’ she says; ‘they had been effectively run and the whole lot was effectively organised. The meals was wonderful and, total, it was rather well completed – no complaints.’
On the final evening of the journey, Class E and her passengers had been moored over the Boonsong wreck when it grew to become obvious that the vessel they had been on was something however good.
‘At about 3.15, 3.20 within the morning, Joe wakes me up and he tells me: “stand up”,’ says Nicole. ‘He stated: “Do you scent that smoke?”, however I’m half asleep at this level so I sort of take it with a grain of salt.
‘After which I hear someone yelling, “Evacuate! Evacuate!”’
There have been no smoke detectors or hearth alarm system on board, and no roving evening watch posted by the crew. The alarm was raised by a passenger who, unable to sleep, had been up on deck on the time the hearth broke out.
Nicole and her husband left their cabin to analyze, and the character of the emergency was immediately obvious.
‘As quickly as we acquired into the hallway, there was thick smoke,’ stated Nicole. ‘I attempted to cowl my mouth, but it surely was an excessive amount of, and really acrid, so we ducked down and went outdoors onto the dive deck.
‘The smoke was on the market too. We went to the perimeters to try to get some contemporary air but it surely was already overwhelming the dive deck.’
They didn’t see any flames at this level, solely smoke, so the couple headed out to the eating space on the higher deck, the place different passengers had been beginning to collect.
‘We had about half the passengers at that time,’ stated Nicole. ‘The top divemaster and a few the opposite divemasters confirmed up however then smoke began filling that space too, and it acquired too tough, so we walked alongside the aspect and went as much as the entrance of the boat.’
Not realising the gravity of the scenario, not one of the assembled passengers had introduced their life jackets with them.
‘All of it occurred too quick,’ stated Nicole, ‘and I don’t assume anyone realised that when folks stated “it’s smoky” that they had been going to be leaping over the aspect.’
A few the feminine crew members, apparently unable to swim, had turned up with life rings.
No energy, no radio, no battery backup
Roughly 10 minutes after leaving their cabins, the passengers realised the entire boat was with out energy – and had been for a while.
One other liveaboard, the MV Raga, owned by Smile Dolphin Adventures, was moored close by however there didn’t appear to be any try by the crew to make contact.
In line with Chris – who’s answerable for his service provider ship’s firefighting group – Class E’s captain was on the entrance of the boat, and didn’t look like accountable for the scenario.
‘He couldn’t communicate English and appeared panicked,’ he stated, ‘so I went to the bridge to make use of the misery sign.
‘I attempted to name by VHF radio, but it surely was not working as a result of there was no electrical energy, so I attempted to push the misery button, but it surely was additionally not working.
‘I attempted to seek out different emergency tools, however there was nothing,’ Chris continued. ‘The one factor I discovered was SART [Search and Rescue Transponder, which can be detected by other ships’ radar] but it surely was not that essential on this scenario.
‘So I couldn’t do something as a result of there was no energy, and the batteries had been additionally not working.’
DIVE has spoken with the DiveRACE Class E’s Singapore-based proprietor, who stated in a written assertion that ‘unbiased back-up batteries, radios and hearth extinguishers had been obtainable’.
The easy details stay, nonetheless, that two extremely skilled maritime officers – one civilian and one army – couldn’t discover a working radio on the bridge and, if there was a backup on board, neither the captain nor any of his crew put it to make use of.
‘The is fairly key to me,’ says Nicole, ‘and really aggravating. They went to the bridge to search for the bridge-to-bridge radio, assuming it had a battery backup. It didn’t.
‘They went in search of an emergency beacon. No battery backup on that, both, so no strategy to sign Mayday. Nothing.’
SOS by smartphone
With no strategy to talk with the skin world, folks began to sign Raga utilizing the flashlights on their cell phones.
‘They had been most likely 150 to 200 metres away,’ stated Nicole, ‘far sufficient to circle the anchor chain and never hit us. Individuals had been making an attempt to sign SOS with the flashlights on their telephones, however [the crew of the other boat] additionally appeared to be sleeping, and there was no one on the bridge as a result of we couldn’t get their consideration.’
By this time the hearth had taken maintain on the again deck. Unable to boost a response from the opposite boat, and with no strategy to sign an emergency, the passengers realised they had been most likely going to should abandon ship.
‘At this level we may see a glow at the back of the boat, and it was getting worse and worse,’ says Nicole. We’re speaking by way of a video name, and it’s clear to see the reminiscence is clearly not straightforward for her.
‘We heard planks beginning to hit the dive deck, and we begin listening to air hoses begin popping, which is simply feeding the hearth, and we heard issues exploding.’
Anyone was bringing life jackets as much as the ahead deck, so Nicole and her husband – each robust swimmers and, as US Navy personnel, capable of deal with emergencies fairly calmly – begin passing them out.
Sea circumstances worsened because the boat burned – Nicole estimates a 1.5–1.8 metre swell – and a gradual drizzle made the decking slippery, inflicting her to fall and break her sacrum (the triangular bone located between the 2 hip bones of the pelvis) as she was serving to.
It additionally grew to become clear at whereas they had been getting ready to desert ship that two divers had been lacking. Happily, one of many divemasters – a overseas nationwide, not a member of the Thai crew – was capable of open the ahead emergency hatch, enabling them to flee the decrease deck.
The liferafts had been deployed – once more, not by the crew however by one of many overseas divemasters and a passenger. Sea circumstances and present made them tough to entry when folks began leaping into the water, however – very importantly – they remained tethered to the vessel whereas the passengers deserted ship, slightly than drifting away, ineffective, into the darkish.
By this time, the flames and the noise of the small explosions had aroused the eye of Raga’s crew, who deployed their boat’s tenders and weighed anchor to select up Class E’s survivors.
The primary mayday was issued by Raga’s captain at roughly 4.15 am.
This story, for causes of size, will seem in two components. The second might be printed subsequent week…
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Crowley (identified to his mum as Mark), packed in his IT job in 2005 and spent the subsequent 9 years working as a full-time scuba diving skilled. He began writing for DIVE in 2010 and hasn’t stopped since.
