Thai rescue workers and medics give first aid to injured tourists after a ferry sank at Pattaya resort city in Chonburi province, Thailand, yesterday.Thai rescue workers and medics give first aid to injured tourists after a ferry sank at Pattaya resort city in Chonburi province, Thailand, yesterday.
BANGKOK: At least six passengers including three foreigners died after a tourist ferry sank yesterday off the Thai resort of Pattaya, police said, amid fears people may still be trapped in the stricken vessel.
“There are six dead — three Thais and three foreigners,” a police official said, without giving details on the nationalities of the foreigners. The ferry sank on Sunday afternoon near Koh Larn, a small island off the Pattaya coast popular with daytrippers.
Local reports said the vessel may have been overcrowded and listed after experiencing engine trouble. “Police received a phone call from relatives of the passengers on the ferry,” the police officer said, requesting anonymity.
“We are rescuing them... we are not sure whether there are people still trapped inside (the ferry).”
There was no immediate confirmation of the number of injured or missing, but local media said dozens of ambulances had been called to Pattaya’s beachfront to handle casualties being plucked from the water.
A Pattaya Tourist Police spokesman said there were an estimated 100 passengers on the boat, which ran into engine trouble at about 5pm local time (1100 GMT). Pattaya is around 150km south of Bangkok. Russian news reports said three Russians, including a child, had been taken to hospital in a serious condition.
“At least half of the passengers were Russian tourists,” Russian consul in Bangkok Andrey Dvornykov was quoted as saying by the Ria Novosti news agency.
Renowned for its racy nightlife and cheap accommodation, Pattaya is one of Thailand’s most popular resort areas and has become wildly popular as a package holiday destination for Russians.AFP
