Foreign tourists rescued from sinking long-tail boat in southern Thailand (video)

A Thai tour guide’s long-tail boat carrying two foreign tourists sank in the waters of Krabi province in southern Thailand, on Saturday. Luckily, nearby boats and national park officials were able to rescue them just in time.

The ship’s 43 year old captain, Prasit Sansamut, took two foreign tourists – their nationalities unspecified – out on a long-tail boat to behold the beauty of Koh Hong island, located in between Krabi’s coast and Koh Yao Noi island in the Andaman sea.

The long-tail battled with strong waves in the open sea and water quickly filled up the boat, which began to sink in between Koh Hong island and Laem Hang Nak cape in Krabi at 3.30pm.

Two local fishing boats managed to attach a rope to the half-submerged long-tail boat and pull it back to shore at Krabi’s Ao Tha Lane Pier. With assistance from national park officials, the tour guide and foreign passengers were brought back to safety.

Director of the Than Bok Khorani National Park in Krabi province, Weerasak Srisatchang, said that the exact spot where the long-tail boat went down is outside the boundaries of the national park.

The water is deep. The boat must have met some adverse weather conditions, said Weersak. They were lucky that there were fishing boats nearby ready to help, otherwise, it would have been a tragedy, he added.

National park officials are investigating whether the tour guide is in any way responsible for the incident as he ventured out of the park’s boundaries, or whether it was pure bad luck.

Weather conditions should always be considered before any kind of boat trip.

On Saturday at 4am, a tugboat capsized 37 kilometres off the coast of Koh Pha Ngan. Luckily, an oil tanker noticed them and mobilised a rescue mission. Over 10 hours later, every member of the exhausted crew was rescued from the waters.

On the same day, a fire destroyed seven speedboats docked at Thong Lang Bay at Koh Mak in Trat province. No one knows how the fire started.