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A group of 14 foreign divers have joined in an undersea mission to search for the bodies of three missing people after a ferry boat capsized near Koh Samui island in southern Thailand, said a senior government official on Wednesday.
The diving instructors, who have been based on a nearby Koh Tao island off Surat Thani province, were on Wednesday brought aboard the navy's HTMS Rawi to the spot where the boat sank last Saturday to join a combined team of navy and marine police divers in the search mission for the three missing persons, said Deputy Provincial Governor Sutthiphong Khlai-udom.
The ferry boat, namely Racha 4, was carrying 12 crew members and four others, three 10-wheel trailer trucks and a pickup truck when it capsized due to high tides and a heavy downpour.
The boat was heading from Koh Samui island to shore in Don Sak district of the southern province.
The skipper of the boat, identified as Thewin Surat, reportedly drowned after his vessel overturned in the stormy sea.
The divers have retrieved the body of the slain skipper and that of another person, who also reportedly drowned, while 11 others were rescued safely to shore.
They are not only searching for the bodies of the three victims but also checking out the wreckage lying on the seabed to see whether the sunken boat, trailer trucks and pickup truck could practically be retrieved and towed to shore, Sutthiphong said.
