Thai navy rescues tourists caught in large Phuket waves

The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) rescued a group of tourists in distress who were caught in large waves on a fishing boat off Phuket. The RTN Third Area Command said they rescued the seven foreign tourists in the south of Phuket on Wednesday.

The boat’s navigator was broken, leaving the captain unable to bring the boat back to the shore.

Luckily, the RTN found the fishing boat and navigated the tourists to Chalong Pier safely, the navy said in a Facebook post about the incident.

Large waves have been causing chaos across South Thailand.

Due to the inclement weather in the southern part of Thailand, a touring long-tail boat in Krabi sank on Wednesday after travelling in the sudden rain and strong winds.

A young fisherman went out fishing for squid in Laem Hang Nak cape, Mueang district when he decided to turn back to shore due to sudden rain and strong winds yesterday afternoon. He came across four people floating in the sea, one was wearing a life jacket.

A pregnant woman and young child were unconscious when the fisherman found them. He pulled all four people onto his boat and brought them to shore at Klong Sai Pier.

A Malaysian man and the boat driver survived, but the Malaysian tourist’s pregnant wife and six year old daughter were pronounced dead from drowning later at the hospital.

Earlier this month, huge waves capsized a tugboat off Koh Pha Ngan. The crew of the “PL Arthena” tugboat were rescued nearly 10 hours after their vessel was knocked over by heavy waves in the early hours. The oil tanker “Napapa” spotted the victims in the waters of Surat Thani province off the coast of Haad Rin Beach.

The crew of the oil tanker then got in touch with the RTN to request assistance in getting the tugboat sailors safely back to land.