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A four-Meter Wave Capsized a Tugboat Off Pha Ngan, All Crew Rescued
(CTN News) – Tens of thousands of tourists and revelers were dancing the night away at the Full Moon Party on Koh Pha Ngan’s Haad Rin Beach around 4am on Saturday.
A tugboat sank only 37 kilometers from the shore of the well-known vacation island, throwing the whole crew out into the raging waters.
The “PL Arthena” tugboat’s crew was saved over ten hours after their vessel was capsized by large seas early on Saturday morning.
Around 1.45 pm, the oil tanker “Napapa” discovered the victims off the shore of Haad Rin Beach in the Surat Thani region.
After almost an hour of rescue efforts, the sailors on the oil tanker successfully pulled all of the tugboat crew members from the choppy, windy seas.
To help the tugboat sailors return to shore safely, the oil tanker’s crew subsequently made contact with the Royal Thai Navy.
The navy flew the casualties to the government hospital in Nathon on the neighboring island of Koh Samui. They had a checkup to ensure they were all healthy and undamaged.
According to the PL Arthena’s skipper, the tugboat departed Surat Thani on Friday at 2:00 p.m.
They were battered by waves as high as 4 meters late in the day. According to the skipper, the tugboat was overwhelmed by the seas and sank at 4 am on Saturday.
As water filled the hull and the engine stopped, we left the boat.
Despite being naturally fatigued from their journey on the open sea for hours, Nation Thailand reported that all crew members were safe. This past weekend, the Gulf of Thailand was quite turbulent.
High waves have been there since Friday due to the same strong winds and intermittent thundershowers that cut out electricity to Koh Pha Ngan on Friday night and for most of Saturday.
The crew of the “Napapa” was able to safely recover all of the capsizing victims despite the rescue operations’ difficulty due to the choppy waves.
