Stranded in paradise: Viral video shows 85 tourists trapped in water near Thai Cave

A video clip of 85 tourists waiting in the water near a cave in South Thailand after an issue with their boat has gone viral on social media. The video shows the tourists, who are all wearing life jackets, holding on to each other as they wait for their boat to return. The incident, which occurred on Saturday, May 6, was caused by the boat’s anchor rope breaking. The video can be found here.

The incident took place near Emerald Cave in Koh Libong in the Libong sub-district in the Kantang district of Trang province. Fortunately, all the tourists were wearing life vests.

The Natcha tour boat had taken the tourists from Pak Meng Pier in Mai Fat sub-district for a tour in the Andaman Sea. They reached the Emerald Cave at around 2pm and descended the ladder to swim towards the cave and the beach.

After all the tourists had disembarked, the rope used for anchoring the tour boat broke, and the captain had to steer the vessel out of the docking area. This is a regular practice to avoid congestion caused by several other tour boats entering, exiting and docking in the area near the cave, said Parit Narasaritkul, Chief of Hat Chao Mai National Park.

After a 20-minute delay, the tour boat returned to the docking area for reboarding. Fortunately, none of the tourists suffered any consequences, and everyone returned safely to the boat, according to Parit.

Following the incident, the Hat Chao Mai National Park will implement measures to oversee safety issues and docking of tour boats in the area around the Emerald Cave, said Parit. Parit told Thai media…

“All tourists were led into the sea and were wearing life jackets for floating into the Emerald Cave as part of a tour program. The rope that the boat was tied to with a rock snapped while the boat crew was waiting for the tourists to return from their tour. After all the tourists came out from the cave, they had to wait for the boat for 20 minutes which had drifted some distance away before they safely got onto the boat.”