Thailand: Speedboat death toll rises to 15
Rescue workers today recovered the body of an Australian tourist from the sea near the southern Thai resort island of Koh Samui, ending a search for those missing after a speedboat capsized earlier this week.
A total of 15 people died when the 10-metre boat, carrying passengers back from a late-night beach party, overturned before dawn on Tuesday.
The dead included five Thais, four Britons, three Americans, two Australians and a Swiss man.
Rescue workers ended their search after recovering the 15th body, that of an Australian man, today.
Police were initially uncertain how many passengers were aboard the boat when it capsized about three miles from Samui’s pier. It was believed to have been carrying 40 to 50 people, more than the 25 to 30 it was designed to hold.
Authorities narrowed their search to the Australian man after several people previously thought to be missing reported that they were safe and six bodies were recovered yesterday.
The speedboat passengers were returning to their hotels from a full-moon party on Pha-Ngan island. Each month, thousands of tourists – many of them young backpackers – take the short boat ride from nearby Koh Samui to attend the parties, which are famous for their all-night drunken revelry.
The boat’s skipper, Samran Rungruen, fled the scene of the accident but surrendered to police on Wednesday, blaming a mechanical failure for the mishap. Authorities said an investigation would be conducted.
Samui, about 330 miles south-west of Bangkok, and Pha-Ngan are in the Gulf of Thailand, which was not affected by the Boxing Day tsunami that killed more than 5,000 people along Thailand’s western coast on the Andaman Sea.
