Imagine cruising along a rain-slick pier in Phuket, headlights cutting through sheets of monsoon drizzle, when—without warning—the road gives way to open water. That harrowing moment was caught on camera and shared widely after a white SUV slowly edged along a yacht marina pier on Sunday, September 7, then suddenly slid off a shiplift platform and plunged into the sea. Miraculously, the two people inside walked away.
The clip that stopped boat operators in their tracks
The 1 minute, 33 second video — first circulated among Phuket boat operator chat groups before spreading to Facebook pages — shows the SUV inching along the pier in heavy rain. What looks like routine driving becomes a heart-stopping plunge when the vehicle sails off the edge of a shiplift, the metal platform typically used to lift yachts out of the water for maintenance or launch them back in. Viewers watched as the car disappeared beneath the waves while its occupants scrambled to safety.
According to local reposts of the footage, the driver escaped by clambering out through a window and up onto the car roof. His female passenger, believed to be his girlfriend and thought to be an Asian tourist, exited through the rear door carrying her belongings. Both were reportedly unharmed. The SUV, however, sank quickly and was lost to the sea.
Why did it happen? A cone, a shiplift and the monsoon
Authorities and eyewitnesses suggested heavy rainfall and flooding may have contributed. A warning traffic cone was allegedly ignored, possibly hidden in the floodwater or obscured by the downpour, and the driver — unfamiliar with the marina layout — appears to have mistaken the shiplift for a continuation of the pier. In poor visibility and with water covering the surface, that single missed cue turned into a dramatic plunge.
It’s an easy mistake to imagine: rain blurs the landscape, puddles hide hazards, and unfamiliar lanes at night can confuse even experienced drivers. That doesn’t make the spectacle any less stark on video, and it’s a reminder that marinas and shiplifts are no place for improvised motoring, especially during storms.
Not an isolated moment — flood dangers across Thailand
Tragic reminders about the risks of flooding came from other provinces over the same period. On September 8 in Samut Prakan, a 17-year-old motorcyclist reportedly suffered fatal electrocution on a flooded road after pushing his bike and touching a traffic barrier that had fallen into a live wire. In Nakhon Ratchasima, a volunteer rescue worker drowned while placing barricades at a weir to stop locals from attempting to cross dangerous, fast-flowing water. Two colleagues were swept away with him and survived, but the man tragically lost his life.
Those incidents, combined with the Phuket marina video, underline a grim truth: floodwater is not just inconvenient — it can conceal electrical hazards, sudden drops and powerful currents that sweep people and vehicles away.
Lessons from the pier: safety tips for rainy-season visitors
- Slow down and avoid unfamiliar piers, ramps or marina areas during heavy rain or at night.
- Obey cones, barricades and signs — they’re usually there because someone has already identified a hazard.
- If you can’t see the surface beneath the water, don’t drive through it. Water depth and hidden drop-offs are impossible to judge from inside a car.
- Keep emergency numbers handy and make sure accommodation staff know where you are if conditions worsen.
In the end, the Phuket video is a small miracle wrapped in a cautionary tale: two people walked away from a car that disappeared beneath the water, but others facing Thailand’s flash floods have not been so lucky. As the monsoon season intensifies across parts of the country, the message is simple — stay alert, respect barriers, and treat floodwater like a hazard, not an opportunity.
Local authorities are likely to review signage and visibility at marinas after the incident, and boat operators who first shared the footage have urged greater care around shiplifts and dry-dock areas. For anyone visiting coastal areas during the rainy season, it’s not just good sense — it can be the difference between walking away and being part of the next viral rescue clip.
Wild footage and a miracle that nobody was hurt, but this is more about negligence than luck. Driving on a shiplift in a storm is just reckless, and cones exist for a reason. Authorities need to do better at marking dangerous marine equipment.
Reckless maybe, but also tourists get confused and locals should do a better job guiding visitors. It’s a shared responsibility and poorly lit marinas at night are inviting disaster.
Exactly, Sam — shared responsibility. If a cone can be hidden by floodwater, signs and barriers need to be taller and reflectors should be mandatory.
As someone who works in tourism, I agree we need clearer infrastructure, but people should also use common sense in storms. This wasn’t the right time to explore a pier in heavy rain.
Common sense isn’t common. People treat videos like dares now — I wouldn’t be surprised if the driver thought it would be a shortcut or a cool photo op.
Looks staged to me. Viral videos generate clicks and money, and this one is too dramatic to be entirely accidental. Who films and posts this so fast unless it’s premeditated?
Conspiracy much? People film everything these days. It being dramatic doesn’t mean it’s fake, it just means humans are terrible at judging depth in floodwater.
I’m not saying it’s definitely staged, but the timing of distribution to operator groups and then Facebook is suspicious. Media incentives influence behavior.
From an engineering standpoint, a shiplift edge is a catastrophic drop-off hidden by water. The solution is simple: install physical barriers or removable bollards at access points. Relying solely on cones is amateur-hour maritime safety.
Financially it’s a pain for small marinas, but safety should trump costs. A few permanent posts would avoid tragedies and insurance claims.
Exactly. The initial expense saves reputational damage and legal fees later. Preventive design beats reactive signage every time.
I feel bad for the car. Metals and oil leaking into the sea is bad for marine life. People focus on the drama but not the environmental hit.
Good point. An SUV full of fluids sinking into a marina is an ecological problem. Clean-up will be messy and costly.
Do you think they’d do an environmental assessment? Probably not until locals complain. We always wait for disasters to act.
That’s my worry. The story will trend and then fade while the oil slick smears across the harbor.
I watched the clip twice and it looks like the driver was really unfamiliar with boats and docks. People mix up marina lanes with service roads all the time. Education for tourists should include basic marina etiquette.
Tourist education is good, but signage in plain English and pictograms would help far more. Not everyone reads notices or knows nautical terms.
Exactly, Joe. Simple pictures showing ‘NO VEHICLES’ or ‘DANGER: DROP OFF’ can save lives, especially for non-native speakers.
And maybe locals should have patrols during monsoon season. A single person guiding traffic could avoid these viral disasters.
Emergency crews deal with flood-related callouts every monsoon. It’s frustrating because many incidents are preventable. We’ll likely push for better barriers and lighting after seeing this clip.
Do you think police will actually enforce closures during storms though? Many places ignore barricades when it’s inconvenient.
We try, but resources are limited. Public cooperation and proactive infrastructure upgrades make enforcement effective rather than reactive.
Tourism boards should run seasonal warnings and give clear maps to guests. This accident will scare tourists, and that could hurt local economies if not handled transparently. Communicating safety instead of hiding incidents builds trust.
Transparency might hurt short-term bookings but it’s the honest approach. Hiding things costs more when backlash hits social media.
Right, Larry. Tourists appreciate honesty. A ‘stay away from piers during monsoon’ campaign is cheap and effective.
Someone needs to teach drivers how to get out of sinking cars. I learned to unbuckle and open the window first in school and it saved lives. Quick thinking was why they survived.
Survival skills matter. The driver climbing onto the roof and the passenger exiting through the rear door shows they either panicked effectively or knew what to do.
This is symptomatic of bigger climate issues. Monsoons intensifying make waterfront activities riskier, and infrastructure lags behind. We need national planning, not just local fixes.
Agreed. Climate adaptation must include coastal safety standards. Engineers, policymakers and communities need coordinated plans.
Coordination is the tricky part, especially with limited budgets and competing priorities. But ignoring the trend is malpractice.
I think the viral angle desensitizes us. Once you see a few ‘miracles’ people start treating danger as entertainment. That’s a toxic cultural shift. We should be outraged, not amused.
True, Sofia. The tone of comments on social media is often ‘wow lucky’ rather than ‘why did this happen?’ We normalize close calls and ignore systemic causes.
The other tragedies mentioned in the article are haunting. One lucky escape shouldn’t overshadow fatal incidents elsewhere. It’s a reminder of inequality in risk exposure — some people can’t avoid hazards.
That’s sad but true. The volunteer rescue worker who drowned was a hero and we should focus on protecting those who help others.