42 dead, 5 missing after boats capsize in southern Thailand: governor

Publish: 1:34 PM, July 9, 2018 | Update: 1:34 PM, July 9, 2018

PHUKET, Thailand  – Thailand’s Phuket Governor Norraphat Plodthong said on Monday that after a joint check with the Chinese side, there were a total of 89 passengers, 87 Chinese among them, on the capsized boat “Phoenix.”

The governor told Xinhua that four people did not board the boat so there were actually only 89 passengers aboard when the “Phoenix” and another tourist boat capsized in rough seas off the southern Thai resort island of Phuket on Thursday.

Thai authorities said previously that a total of 105 passengers were on board “Phoenix” with 93 passengers, a tour guide and 11 crew members.

He said among them, 37 people had been rescued, 41 bodies had been retrieved and a body was pressed by the sunken boat to the seabed.

Among the rest 10 people unaccounted for, five of them were confirmed to be alive and five of them were still missing.