Pol Lt Sommat Tanmaneeprasert of the Wichit Police said he received the report at about about 4:45pm.
Police were informed that the body was dressed only in shorts. It was not confirmed whether the body appeared to be that of a foreigner.
With local charity rescue workers dispatched to provided assistance in the heavily flooded areas in Southern thailand, the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command, based at Cape Panwa, said a Navy vessel would be dispatched today to recover the body.
However, the Third Area Command has yet to confirm locating and recovering the body. As they say it was marked with a buoy by the tour boat, but not anchored to a fixed position.
The Phuket News was informed that in trying to report the finding of the body, the boat tour company representative was passed on to five different government agencies, and was called on to report the details of the discovery each time.
The tour boat waited alongside the body, found found between Phuket and Koh Maithon, for 90 minutes before attaching a marker buoy on and leaving due to failing light.
By that time the tour boat still had not received any response from authorities.
The location of the body at that time was no more than 15 minutes by boat from Phuket.