The death toll from the sinking of a tourist boat off Thailand's Phuket island rose to 27 on Friday as rescue efforts continued to locate 29 people still missing.
The Phoenix capsized and sank in rough seas on Thursday with 105 passengers on board, including 93 Chinese tourists and 12 Thai crew and tourist guides.The Royal Thai Navy said "quite a few bodies" had been found inside the sunken vessel.
The police are investigating the incident, the Phuket Marine Police said, adding the boat was properly registered and was not overloaded at the time of the accident.
It went down about 7-kms (5 miles) from the shore and had sunk to a depth of about 38-40 metres (yards), the Royal Thai Marine Corps said in a statement earlier.
Five were found drifting face down in the water, still wearing life jackets, several miles from the area where the Phoenix sank after being hit by five-metre (15-foot) high waves in a storm on Thursday evening.
One survivor, a Chinese woman, was rushed to hospital in Phuket, according to an AFP reporter at the scene, after she was also found several miles from the boat, floating near the bodies of fellow passengers. Her condition was unknown.
rescued tourists from a boat that sank rest on a pier on the island of Phuket. APRescued tourists, from a boat that sank, rest on a pier on the island of Phuket. AP
Forty-three other passengers remain unaccounted for but are believed to have been trapped on the Phoenix, which sank as it was returning from a day trip from Phuket.
"The 12 bodies are on the way to Vachira Phuket Hospital for identification," according to a statement from the Public Health Ministry in Bangkok.
Helicopters scanned the water on Friday as divers tried to reach the boat which the Thai navy said had sunk 40 metres below the surface of the Andaman Sea, a few kilometres (miles) off the coast of Koh He, an islet known for its coral formations and popular with day-trippers from Phuket.
The Phoenix was carrying 105 passengers, the majority Chinese tourists, when it hit trouble, sparking a rescue attempt that took place in the dark.
Some 48 people — passengers and crew — were rescued and one body found on Thursday before the operation was suspended overnight.
Thai junta number two Prawit Wongsuwon ordered an investigation into why "the boat went to sea" despite a weather warning of strong wind.
Several other vessels hit trouble late Thursday. Initial reports from officials said all of the passengers on those boats were rescued.On Friday ambulances waited to receive further bodies at Chalong Pier on Phuket island.
"I assume they are trapped inside the boat... but I wish some of them have survived," Phuket governor Noraphat Plodthong told reporters.
Rear Admiral Charoenphon Khumrasee, deputy commander for Thai Navy in the southern region, said navy divers, frogmen and marine police divers as well as helicopters had been sent to the scene.
Thailand is already in the global spotlight for a dramatic rescue mission in the north of the country, after 12 boys and their football coach were trapped in a cave complex.
Some cried while others appeared dazed as they walked around still wearing their life vests.
A Chinese consular official arrived at the operations centre in Phuket to monitor the rescue effort.Phuket is a magnet for overseas visitors including Western sun-seekers and huge numbers of Chinese tourists who make up the bulk of the 35 million people expected to visit Thailand this year.
Thailand has a poor health and safety record and accidents are common on its roads and busy waterways - especially in tourist areas during the monsoon season which is now biting.
