Wake of large Chinese cargo boats drowns seven on Mekong

Wake of large Chinese cargo boats drowns seven on Mekong

On December 31, 2002, seven Lahu villagers from Burma were drowned when their small boat capsized in the wake of large boats on the Mekong, sources in Mae Sai have reported.

Since December 15, boat traffic on the Mekong River between China and Thailand has been restricted to only one day in four, in order for the blasting of the rapids between Burma's Shan State and Laos to take place as part of the Mekhong Navigation Improvement Project.

On the day of the accident, the small long-tail boat had left from the Shan side of the river, near Pa Liao-Keng Larb, to travel across to the Lao side with eight villagers on board. Soon after it left the bank, it was overturned by the wake of a convoy of at least five large Chinese cargo boats travelling downstream.

Of the eight villagers, seven men drowned, but one woman wearing a life-jacket survived. At least one body was later recovered downstream.

Accidents of this kind have frequently occurred on the Mekong River, but the restriction of boat traffic to only one day in four during the period of December 2002 to April 2003 has meant an increase of large boat traffic on these days, heightening the possibility of accidents.

Locals fear that once the remaining rapids on the river are blasted and even larger, 300 to 500-ton boats are able to navigate the Mekong, there will be even greater frequency of such accidents.