First survivors from Phuket storm tour boat sinkings ashore, 53 still missing

UPDATE: The Phuket News has been informed that rescue teams have recovered the body of one Chinese man, age presumed to be 35-40, which is en route back to Phuket to be brought ashore at Chalong PIer.

At 10:40pm tonight an updated report from Governor Norraphat Plodthong  gave the number of people sought from the Phoenix at the time the boat sank as 105: comprising 93 tourists and  12 guides. The number of crew was not mentioned. The updated report said that 51 people from the Phoenix had been recovered, along with one body - leaving the search for 53 survivors remaining. The search has been suspended for the night, and will resume at 6:30am tomorrow (July 6).

Governor Norraphat reported a total of 138 people in need of rescue from three incidents on the sea today:

• 97 on board the boat officials named in Thai as ฟิกนิก (likely intended to be "Phoenix"), which was overwhelmed near Koh Hei (Coral Island), south of Phuket;
• 39 people on board the boat named in Thai tonight as เซเนลิก้า ("Senalika")**, which police reported earlier had sunk off Koh Maithon, southeast of Phuket; and
•  2 Russians involved in a jet-ski incident near Koh Racha.

So far 89 of the 138 people sought have been recovered, Gov Norraphat reported.

From Ficnic, 48 were taken to Phuket Provincial Hospital in Rassada, with one survivor in critical "red" condition and nine others in "yellow" condition -- leaving 49 still missing.

All 39 people from Senalika had been safely recovered, and the two Russians in the jet-ski incident were both already safe, he said.

Meanwhile, the search for more survivors goes on.

As a precaution Governor Norraphat ordered all boats not to leave port during the night, leaving 10 boats with 263 registered passengers safely stranded at Koh Racha overnight.

Of note, the official report of the emergency meeting tonight did not mention the word tourists or their nationality, which at this stage is presumed to be Chinese.

Additional reporting by Eakkapop Thontub

** * Later confirmed by the actual name painted on the hull as the "Serenata".