PHUKET, Thailand (4 Sep 2007) -- A Thai boat captain has been charged with reckless manslaughter and faces 10 years in prison after the Kingfisher tourist boat suddenly sank near Koh Phi Phi killing one and severely injuring another tourist. The boat was carrying 59 people including five crew when it capsized off Koh Phi Phi where some 700 people died during the December 2004 tsunami. Captain Suriyan Soison, 34, said he saw the storm approaching and called the divers back to the boat but it was too late. On the way back to Ton Sai Bay the dive boat was hit by big waves, started taking on water and san forcing everyone into the water. Other boats in the area rescued all of the passengers except for Nissim Lugasi, a 26-year-old tourist who was trapped under the boat and drowned. Two other tourists were injured including 23-year-old Adam Berbichevsky, whose legs were nearly severed by the boat's propeller. Berbichevsky is in stable condition after lengthy surgery at the Phuket branch of the Bangkok Hospital. Two weeks ago, all 42 people survived when a ferry capsized in rough weather off Koh Phi Phi. In June 2005, one tourist died and 18 other divers were rescued after the Bubble Blue dive boat sank in heavy seas off Phuket. Two months earlier on April 11, the MV Rhapsody dive boat sank near the Surin Islands where six passengers and seven crew were in the open sea for seven hours before being rescued. | 
