The ThaiMECC 3 was informed of the dead bodies on Racha Noi at 12.35 today, exactly the same time when local seaman Apiwat Kongsawat reported his similar shocking discovery yesterday.
The Royal Thai Navy patrol ship T.233 was tasked with checking the information and locating the bodies. Kusoldharm rescue workers and officials from relevant agencies boarded the boat which then left Phuket at 2.35pm and headed to Racha Noi
Having arrived at the scene, the search and rescue party found a Lagoon 42 catamaran some 300 metres from the shore where a dead foreign man and a dead foreign woman were lying on the beach.
At 5.25pm, T.233 left Racha Noi with the two unidentified corpses on board and arrived at Phuket after 6pm.
The bodies were then handed over to forensic specialists for identification and other procedures according to the law.
Today’s incident on Racha Noi raises the number of dead foreigners found on the small island and in the surrounding waters to three men and one woman in two days (Dec 29-30).
Only one maritime incident in Phuket has been reported in the southern part of Phuket recently. This is the disappearance of Marco Polo sailing catamaran from its mooring location off Nai Harn beach.
Local sailing enthusiast Marco Ceferin reported his boat as missing on Thursday (Dec 28) morning after coming to the beach and failing to find the catamaran at the mooring location.
Initially it was believed that the 40 feet Fountaine Pajot could have been stolen. Local Thai media supported this point by reporting that some unnamed eyewitness told Mr Ceferin he had seen several people boarding the catamaran before it set off to the sea.
Mr Ceferin later said that he had checked relevant video recordings and now believes that nobody had boarded or stolen his vessel (the boat in question was a different one). Instead Marco Polo just dragged the anchor and went adrift towards Nicobar Islands, the owner believes.
Mr Ceferin made an attempt to locate the boat from the air but the search conducted with a light aircraft has not brought any result yet.
Of note, the first publicly available message about the possible discovery of dead bodies in the area of Racha islands can be found in the discussion about Marco Polo in one of Phuket’s leading groups for sailing enthusiasts.
"Interesting day, I hear two bodies found in the water at Bay One Racha Yai. Found by a dive boat," one commenter said in a thread about the missing catamaran.
The comment was posted at 6.13pm on Dec 28, some 12 hours before ThaiMECC received information about the two bodies of male foreigners spotted off Racha Noi. According to the ThaiMECC report, the center was informed at 12.35pm on Dec 29.
Wiesel | 01 January 2023 - 11:58:07