A marine official in Nonthaburi province has been transferred for licensing the passenger boat that sunk in Ayutthaya province when it had no insurance, while its owner and driver face multiple charges.
Sorasak Saensombat, director-general of the Marine Department, said on Thursday that he transferred Hathaikan Penkun of the department's Nonthaburi branch to the Ship Registration Bureau for two weeks as she had signed the new licence for the boat, Sombat Mongkolchai, in June although there was no insurance for its passengers.
He also launched an investigation into the official and said disciplinary proceedings could follow.
Department deputy director-general Nat Chubchai said it should be known before the end of the month whether any marine officials had received an insurance fee from the boat owner but failed to arrange for coverage, and whether the concrete embankment of the river at Wat Sanam Chai, where the boat sank, had been legally built.
Ayutthaya police have charged Sunthorn Pansuathong, the 51-year-old boat owner, with failing to have a licensed helmsman and mechanic on the boat and operating an overloaded vessel. He was released on bail of 700,000 baht covered by two title deeds.
Mr Sunthorn, of Ayutthaya's Bang Sai district, said he had paid the fees for his renewed boat licence and insurance to an official of the marine branch in Nonthaburi but was surprised when the Nonthaburi marine office claimed he had not arranged insurance.
Boat driver Wirach Chaisirikul, 67, was charged with reckless driving causing death and serious injury, operating an overloaded boat, using an expired driving licence and using an overloaded vehicle in the way that caused death and serious injury.
Phra Samusombat Sirisuwanno, abbot of Wat Sanam Chai, said the embankment had been built in 2002 to prevent erosion which had earlier approached the ordination hall of the Buddhist temple.
The construction was funded by donations and took four years to complete. The base of the 32-metre-long concrete embankment protruded three metres into the river and functioned as a pier, the abbot said.
He said the Marine Department had not objected to the construction in the past 14 years. The abbot said that he had no documentation concerning the embankment's construction because the project had been done during the tenure of a former abbot and he had taken office at the temple three years ago.
The 27-metre-long Sombat Mongkolchai was licensed to carry 50 passengers but it was transporting more than 100 when the tragedy occurred, claiming 28 lives and injured about 50 others last Sunday.
It hit the submerged base of the riverside temple's embankment while speeding to overtake a sand barge in the Chao Phraya River section in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district.
Sunthorn Pansuathong (right), the 51-year-old boat owner, acknowledges charges at the Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya police station on Thursday. (Photo by Sunthorn Pongpao)