Death toll from Thai tourist boat sinking climbs to 41

PHUKET/BANGKOK: The death toll from a tourist boat accident off the coast of Thailand’s Phuket island climbed to 41 on Saturday with 15 people still missing, officials said.

Rescuers have resumed a search for those still missing from the sunken vessel, the Phoenix, which capsized in rough waters on Thursday carrying 93 Chinese tourists and 12 Thai crew and tour guides in one of Thailand’s worst recent accidents.

Earlier in the day authorities said a hospital morgue in Phuket was running out of space and called on donors to help provide freezers for the bodies. Forty-one of those on board have been confirmed dead and 49 rescued, officials said.

“Deceased: 41. Missing: 15,” the Thai government said in a statement.

The Phoenix sank after being hit by five-metre-high waves in a storm off Phuket, whose beaches and night life draw tourists.

Some Thais and tour operators have questioned why the boat was at sea during bad weather. The Chinese government has also pressed for a quick investigation into the cause of the accident, the Thai government’s media office in Phuket said.

Thai junta number two Prawit Wongsuwan has ordered an investigation into why the Phoenix appeared to have ignored a weather warning. Ambulances unloaded bodies at the hospital on Phuket’s east coast that received most of the casualties, as staff escorted visibly distressed family members to a waiting room.