33 Chinese dead in wrecked boat off Thai island, 23 missing »Manila Bulletin News



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PHUKET, Thailand – Thai authorities on Friday night suspended the search for missing tourists on a boat that sank during a storm on the island of Phuket in the south of the country.

  Divers on a rubber raft recover a body during a search operation in the water off Phuket, Thailand, on Friday, July 6, 2018. Thai divers search the area. Wreck of a boat with Chinese tourists who sank in a storm in Phuket. (AP Photo / Manila Bulletin)

Divers on a rubber raft recover a body during a search operation in the water off Phuket, Thailand, on Friday, July 6, 2018. Thai divers search the wreck of a boat in a storm on the island of Phuket. (AP Photo / Manila Bulletin)

The search for 23 more missing persons will resume Saturday at 5 am, said Prapan Khanprasang, head of the provincial office of prevention and disaster mitigation of Phuket.

biggest disaster for years, and attracted the attention of the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok. Visitors from China to Thailand totaled more than 9.8 million people in 2017, constituting the largest share by country of a record 35.38 million foreign tourists.

The death toll surged after the dispatch of divers, who capsized and sunk on Thursday night when he was hit by waves as high as 5 meters (16 feet). It carried 105 people, including 93 tourists, 11 crew members and a tour guide. At least 12 of the wounded were hospitalized.

In pictures, Thursday, after the sinking, survivors sat in large rubber life rafts, surrounded by barracks. Wearing lifejackets, the survivors were then transported to the deck of what appeared to be a trawler

As the sea calmed down on Friday, divers carried bodies of the dead, including at least one child,

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, head of the Thai military government, expressed "heartfelt condolences and condolences" to the families of the victims

. Reports in the Thai media indicate that the police have accused the owner and captain of the vessel stricken with inattention causing death and injury. 19659005] Chinese Ambassador Lyu Jian had an "emergency conversation" over the phone with Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, said the Chinese Embassy in a statement quoting him as saying. envoy calling on Thailand to mobilize quickly. an intensive search for the missing and "to take and make the appropriate arrangements for the Chinese tourists rescued, treat and treat the wounded and receive the family members of the Chinese tourists involved."

Ambassador Lyu said he hoped the cause Deadly accidents among foreign tourists on Thai beaches are not unusual, but normally involve drowning in unsafe swimming areas or accidents involving smaller boats .

19659005] The Thai authorities rushed to face the logistics of the consequences of the sinking.

At the request of the Governor of Phuket, the Phuket Tourism Association was looking for 80 Chinese volunteer translators to help Chinese passengers

Many of the victims had participated in group tours, reserved for Phuket and China.

The East Government The Chinese city of Haining, in Zhejiang Province, said on its official microblog account that it received a distress alert sent by SMS from the chief from Haining Haipai Furniture Co. Ltd., Thailand, Friday morning

. furniture company employees and family members had traveled together to Phuket and that on July 5 around 5 pm they encountered the "biggest storm in five years" and they asked the government for help. The Chinese tour operator based in central Hunan province said in his official account Sina Weibo that the three travelers he had reserved had disappeared.

] Lazy Cat Travel said it sent staff to Phuket to help its customers, who also included 35 passengers who had to be rescued from another chartered boat that had problems on Thursday. He said the second boat had lost power after being submerged by the waves. The rescuers, also led by Thai Navy divers, are supporting 12 boys and their football coach stranded for nearly two weeks inside a flooded cave in the north of the country, and are trying to figure out how and when to extract them.

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