Body of boat sinking victim found
SATUN: The body of a man missing at sea for 17 days after the boat he was on sunk off Koh Racha Yai was recovered by Marine Police yesterday at Koh Tarutao in Satun.
Phuthong Tirawattana, an employee of the Tai Lee Yong seafood restaurant in Saphan Hin, was one of five co-workers left floating through the night in stormy seas after his rented fishing boat capsized on September 29 off Koh Racha Yai.
The following morning he accompanied another man, Surat Boonserm, in leaving the group to try and swim to the safety of a small island visible in the distance.
The other three men were rescued from the sea later the same day and K. Surat from an island five days later, but K. Phuthong was never seen again.
Phuket Marine Police Inspector Pol Col Lt Prasert Srikunnarat told the Gazette that K. Phuthong’s badly decomposed body, still clad in a life jacket, was recovered yesterday by Satun Marine Police off Koh Tarutao, some 200 kilometers south of Phuket.
“The Satun Marine Police received a report from local fisherman that they found a dead body in a life jacket stuck to a rock at Tarutao. Satun Marine Police contacted us after relatives of the victim traveled to Satun and identified the body as that of K. Phuthong,” he said.
K. Phuthong’s body was returned to Phuket yesterday. Bathing rites and cremation will be conducted at Wat Saen Suk in Phuket City.
