The six were safely brought back to Phuket by a Royal Thai Navy boat, reported local conservation group Go Eco Phuket, which first raised the alarm by posting an appeal from one of the crewman’s parents calling for the Navy to a launch for their son and his crewmates.
The boat, the “Jirin”, departed Phuket at about 8am on Friday (Dec 29), but at about 3pm one of the crewmen on board, named only as Mr Komsan, called home, saying that the oil line was leaking, the parents explained.
Mr Komsan urged relatives to arrange for spare parts and equipment to be delivered to a rendezvous point directly west of Kata Beach.
However, the Jirin failed to make the rendezvous and calls to Mr Komsam went unanswered.
Relatives staged their own search and yesterday pleaded for the Navy to launch a search for the vessel as fear for the crew’s safety were growing due to the strong winds and large waves created by the current weather conditions.
The Navy launched an air-search search, with a helicopter locating the stricken vessel first, and coordinating a rescue boat to recover the crew.
The Phuket News has yet to be informed of any efforts to recover the boat or whether any tourists were on board at the time of the rescue.