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Thousands of homes and businesses on Samui and Phangan islands in Surat Thani province were still without electricity for the second day on Wednesday after an underwater power cable ruptured on Tuesday. Tourists were rushing to leave the islands.
Normally the holiday season Samui island, one of Thailand's major tourist destinations, would have about 20,000 tourists. That number had shrunk to about one thousand, reports said.
Power was still sporadically available on parts of the islands, but hotels and resorts were having to rely on their own generators, or candles. The wireless telecommunication network had also been knocked out.
The Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) in Koh Samui district explained that the outage was caused by a rupture to the submarine power cable connecting a substation on Samui island with the mainland.
The reserve power supply was only able to distribute electricity to one fifth of the islands' area at a time, on a two hour rotation, the PEA said.
Wanni Thaipanich, chairwoman of the association of tourism promotion for Koh Phangan, said smaller hotels were suffering as guests cancelled out and moved to larger establishments with their own power generators.
Provincial governor Chatpong Chatphuti said that engineers were being flown in to address the problem and it was expected that the power would be on again by 11pm of Wednesday. Mobile generators had also been dispatched to major hospitals on the islands.
PTT had been asked to urgently transport fuel to both islands as there was now a fuel shortage and people were hoarding supplies. Many hotels were running out of fuel for their generators.
Samui and Phangan have a combined daily power consumption of about 90 megawatts
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DTAC telenet er ude af drift på koh samui
Samuly to get power back today
SURAT THANI - The electricity supply is expected to be restored later today to the tourist islands of Samui and Phangan, which are now in their third day without power.
A rupture in the submarine electricity cable linking to the mainland has left both islands with only a meagre reserve power supply since Tuesday. Most tourists have left the islands.
Wattana Praekul, of the Provincial Electricity Authority in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, said on Thursday morning that PEA engineers were having difficulties trying to repair the damaged high voltage cable because of the confined space and wet soil.
However repair work was about 70% complete and if there were no additional delays power should be restored around noon on Thursday.
Provincial governor Chatpong Chatphuti flew to Samui island by helicopter today to oversee the repairs.
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ISLANDS OF PARADISE
Blackouts on tourist islands of Saui and Phangan enter third day; disaster zones declared
Authorities in Surat Thani province on Thursday declared as disaster zones the two districts that have been suffering from blackouts since Tuesday, s there are no immediate solutions to the problem.
Surat Thani's Governor Chatpong Chataputi announced the decision after boarding a helicopter to inspect the situation in Koh Samui and Koh Phangan districts in the morning.
The decision enables the provincial authority to use its emergency budget of Bt50 million, which will be used to buy necessary supplies, particularly petrol, for affected people.
The blackout occurred at about 8am on Tuesday reportedly when a main underground power cable shortcircuited. The repair works were initially expected to be completed on Wednesday night.
Both islands are known to tourists for their beautiful sea, beaches, blue skies and worldrenowned diving sites. The blackouts sent tourists away from the islands, with Samui airport crowded with visitors wanting to leave the island.
Meanwhile Senee Puwasettathavorn, president of the tourism council of Surat Thani, said about 20 per cent of the tourism industry on the islands was affected by the blackout. There are about 500 hotels with 18,000 rooms and 5,000 rented rooms, apartments and resorts on both islands.
Senee called on the authorities to give priority to solving the problems, pointing out that electricity is essential to all businesses. He expressed concerned that without electricity, tap water could not be produced and there could be hoarding of petrol and other necessities.
Meanwhile Koh Samui and Koh Phangan hospitals issued statements saying that they are not affected by the blackouts as they have sufficient petrol to operate the spare power generators.
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TRAVEL
Samui Airports opens despite blackout
Samui Airport remains open with normal operation from 6am-10pm, announced Bangkok Airways which is the airport operator.
The operator said in a statement that the blackout incident in Samui Island has no effect on flight operation in and out of Samui Airport. The airport is operating normally and handling around 36 flights per day for Bangkok Airways, Thai Airways, SilkAir (from Singapore) and FireFly (from Malaysia).
Bangkok Airways' flights to and from Samui Airport operates as normal.
The power blackout which affects Koh Samui and nearby island, Koh Pha-ngan, has continued for the third day, forcing tourists to flee the islands.
The Surat Thani authorities expected the repair would be completed in the afternoon today. The blackout was caused by the explosion of underground power wire.
On its website, the United Kingdom Embassy advised UK citizens not to travel to the islands due to the power blackout.
ly to get power back today
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