Thai tourist boat death toll rises to 41

Thai divers who entered the wreck of a tour boat that sank in a storm off the southern Thai resort island of Phuket described heartbreaking scenes of bodies of children found in the arms of their mothers, as the search continued yesterday for 15 mostly Chinese tourists.

The death toll from last Thursday’s tragedy climbed to 41, in Thailand’s biggest tourist-related disaster for years.

The boat, carrying 105 people, including 93 tourists, capsized after it was hit by five-metre waves.