PHUKET: Five more bodies were found on Saturday after a tourist boat sank off the resort's island coast on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 38. Eighteen remain missing.
Divers found the five bodies -- two boys, two men and one woman -- at around 11.30am. The bodies were taken to HTMS Hua Hin ashore, Thai media reported.
The search resumed on Saturday morning for the people still missing after a tour boat carrying holidaymakers, mostly Chinese, sank off Phuket's coast during a violent storm on Thursday.
All of the remaining missing people were expected to be found on Saturday, said Phuket governor Norapat Plodthong.
Navy Seal divers, marine police and rescuers on board two naval ships -- HTMS Hua Hin and HTMS Panyee -- and a diving boat left a pier at Laem Panwa village in Muang district at around 10am on Saturday to the site, where the tour boat Phoenix capsized, about 1.5 nautical miles, or 2.8km off Koh Hae in tambon Rawai.
The Phoenix ran into trouble on Thursday afternoon, when it was hit by five-metre high waves. The boat, which had left the popular snorkelling site of Koh Racha for Phuket, was carrying 105 people, including crew and tour guides. Most of the passengers were Chinese tourists. Russians were also among them.
As of Saturday morning, 49 people had been rescued from the capsized boat and 18 people were still missing. The death toll was 38, most of them Chinese nationals.
Despite fading hopes, divers would continue scouring the wreckage of the boat, which sank about 30-40 metres deep to the south of Koh Hae, to recover bodies. The boat would later be salvaged after all bodies were found.
More vessels, reinforced by a helicopter, were later dispatched to join the search operation on Saturday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a statement late Friday, urged the Thai government and agencies to "spare no efforts" in search and rescue and to provide proper medical treatment for the injured, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Mr Xi asked authorities to warn travel agencies and travellers against risks and help them take precautions during their holidays.
Chinese ambassador to Thailand Lyu Jian went to Phuket on Friday to give moral support to affected Chinese nationals and hold talks with Thai authorities about the rescue operation, identification of bodies and help for relatives of the dead victims.
China has sent two diving teams to join Thai divers and rescuers in the search operation, the ambassador told reporters.
Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat said the government deeply regretted the losses of many lives and would make all-out rescue efforts to find the missing people. More than 800 rescuers were deployed in the search operation, said the minister.
The ambassador and Beijing thanked the Thai counterpart for the rescue efforts to help find the missing passengers and for providing measures to help the affected tourists.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry set up a special team to facilitate visa applications for families and relatives of the victims.
The Royal Thai Embassy in Beijing and the consulate in Shanghai are providing services for visa applications for the group even on weekends. They are eligible for an emergency visa that can be available within one day, ministry spokesperson Busadee Santipitaks said.
Visas on arrival at the Phuket airport will also be available for the group but they have to contact the Thai embassy or the consulate in China first.
The Royal Thai Embassy in Beijing can be reached at +8618311452813 around the clock.
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