Israeli girl killed in Thailand boat fire named
Shani Maril, 12, only fatality after ferry goes up in Andaman Sea; divers find body inside bathroom at rear of vessel
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A 12-year-old Israeli girl killed in a fire on a ferry near Thailand was named as Shani Maril, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
Maril, from the central Israeli city of Modiin, was killed when a tour boat she was on with her family caught fire and sank in the Andaman Sea off Thailand’s southwestern coast on Wednesday.
She was the only fatality.
Maril’s body was found early Thursday morning by local authorities.
The girl was located 18 meters (59 feet) underwater by scuba divers conducting the search on behalf of the Thai navy, Channel 2 reported.
Representatives from the local Chabad house and the Israeli consulate were present at the scene.
“Divers found her body at around 11:00 am inside the toilet at the rear of the boat,” Lieutenant General Decha Butnampetch, southern region police commander, told AFP.
The victim was in Thailand to celebrate her bat mitzvah with her parents and brother.
An Israeli rescue worker present at the scene of the accident told Channel 2 on Wednesday that the girl had died of smoke inhalation. It was unclear whether she drowned or was already dead from suffocation by the time the ship had sunk.
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Narong Woonchew, the deputy governor of Krabi province, said police were still investigating the cause of the fire, which engulfed the Ao Nang Princess boat that was carrying about 110 people and traveling from Krabi to Phuket, two of Thailand’s most popular beach resort areas.
Photos taken by rescuers, including the Krabi Marine Police, showed the abandoned vessel burning down almost to the waterline before sinking.
Sompong said the investigation of the fire would be difficult because the vessel had sunk.
Thailand’s tourist industry, which welcomes more than 20 million people a year, has suffered a black eye in recent years due to domestic political violence and several high-profile killings and unexplained accidental deaths of Westerners, but serious marine accidents are uncommon.
The death came amid a particularly deadly day for Israeli tourists traveling during the Passover vacation.
In Peru, police were investigating why a platform for ziplining collapsed Wednesday, killing 24-year-old Israeli Max Sela.
According to Hebrew media reports, the platform was suspended 80 meters (260 feet) above the ground.
The Times of Israel Community.