Tourist Boat Crashes Into Another Vessel In Central Thailand, Laves One Hungarian Tourist Killed And 22 Others Injured

A 61-year-old Hungarian woman died and 22 foreign tourists (21 South Koreans and 1 Hungarian) were left injured after the tourist boat they were riding Friday collided into another vessel in central Thailand, police authorities said.

What was supposed to be an exciting night to view fireflies along the river turned into a terrible experience for the 23 tourists after another vessel, Sor Sakcharoenporn, collided with their tourist boat along the Mae Klong River Friday evening.

According to Pol Maj Wattana Nuansridam, a duty officer at Amphawa police station, he was alerted around 8 p.m. after Sor Sakcharoenporn crashed Por Chokyothin. The othe Sor Sakcaroenporn did not have any passengers on board. The collision took place in front of Wat Bang Khae Yai in tambon Kwai Om, as reported by Bangkok Post on Saturday.

4 of the 23 passengers suffered from major injuries, once of which was a Hungarian woman who sustained serious head injuries that eventually led to her death.

"She was pronounced dead at [the] hospital after suffering from brain injuries," district police officer Wattana Nualsrida said, as noted by Channel NewsAsia the same day.

A South Korean tourist identified as Chung fractured a rib during the incident. Meanwhile, "the Hungarian embassy in Bangkok confirmed that one of its citizens was killed in a boat accident but could provide no further details," Channel NewsAsia wrote. 

On the other hand, police authorities suspect that the driver of the tourist boat may have turned off the lights to allow the tourist passengers to see the fireflies along Mae Klong River, hence, the driver of Sor Sakcharoenporn may not have seen the tourist boat which resulted to the collision of the two vessels.

Both drivers were not seen after the incident which compels the investigators to summon the two "for questioning to find out the exact cause of the crash."