Four French divers were rescued on Thursday after being stranded on an island off Sattahip in Chon Buri overnight after their boat broke free of its mooring and floated away.
The men boarded a rented boat at Jomtien beach to go to Koh Manwichai at 8am on Wednesday. The boat was spotted floating in the sea off Koh Sichang on Thursday with nobody onboard.
A Facebook user named Tai Ek posted a photo of a boat with the message: “Friends, please help share. This boat left Na Jomtien beach about 7-8am on May 1 and has not yet returned to shore. Four people who went with the boat could not be reached. Anyone who finds them, kindly please contact me.”
The empty boat was later found floating in the sea about 11 nautical miles off Koh Sichang in Sri Racha district of Chon Buri. This prompted tourist police and rescue workers to immediately launch a search.
The boat that the four foreign divers had rented is found floating in the sea off Koh Sichang with nobody onboard on Thursday morning (Photo: Pattaya Tourist Police)
Rescuers later found the four men on Manwichai island about 15 nautical miles offshore from tambon Bang Saray in Sattahip district. They were taken to the beach at Bang Saray around noon. Nobody was injured.
The four were identified only as Andrien, 38, Medhi, 47, Vincent, 30, and Stefan, 32, all French nationals.
Pattaya tourist police spoke with the four foreigners to find out what had happened.
Mr Andrien told police that he and his friends had gone to Koh Manwichai to dive on Wednesday and anchored the boat there. When they emerged from the water, their boat had broken free and floated away.
They all had to stay overnight on the island before they saw a rescue boat on Thursday morning. They signalled for help and were later taken to shore.