Mr Stashkov disappeared on Oct 31 after he was caught in a fast-moving current while swimming from a friend’s yacht moored close to a small island, about one mile east of Koh Payan.
Attempts by Mikhail Kolmogorov, his friend and the captain of the yacht Revolution, failed to recover him. (See story here.)
“We have not found Mr Stashkov yet, but rescue teams, Marine Police from Phang Nga and Similan National Park officials have joined forces to search for him,” Lt Kwanjai Kerwan, the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command public liaison in Phuket, told The Phuket News today (Nov 9).
The search is being carried out on water and land, Lt Kwanjai said, with search teams landing on small islands in the area to check whether Mr Stashkov made it ashore alive.
“Navy officers are using navy vessel Tor229 only to assist with the search. We are not using a helicopter. The boat can cover 20 nautical miles a day and rescue navy officials use rubber dinghys to get to the beaches,” he explained.
The search on land is as important as the search on water, Lt Kwanjai noted.
“There are many small islands in the search area. Park officers regularly patrol their own islands, which they know well, and they are now specifically searching for Mr Stashkov and checking with indigenous people in the area,” he said.
“If we find him, we will let the public know immediately,” Lt Kwanjai added.