SURAT THANI — 14 August 2026, three French tourists were rescued after spending the night in the sea off Koh Samui when the jet ski they had rented failed to return to shore.
The three — a 50-year-old father and two boys aged 12 and 9 — were found at about 11:00 on Thursday treading water about seven nautical miles, or nearly 13 kilometres, east of Koh Mat Lang. They were safe but exhausted and were being taken to Bangkok Hospital Samui for medical checks.
The family of five had been spending time at Chaweng Beach on Wednesday afternoon. At 17:30, the father and two boys rented a jet ski from an operator based on the beach in front of Long Beach Hotel for 30 minutes, while the man’s wife and daughter remained on shore.
When the jet ski had not returned after the allotted time, the operator searched the surrounding waters with binoculars, then sent out two jet skis to look for them. After failing to locate the group, the operator alerted authorities through the 1784 safety hotline at 20:25.
Koh Samui district officials, territorial defence volunteers, police, rescue workers, disaster-prevention officials and local jet-ski operators joined the search. Additional agencies joined the operation at 20:50.
Rescue boats searched through the night, including around Plai Laem Bay, Chaweng Beach and Koh Som from 22:00. At 23:20, three further boats searched from Chaweng Bay towards the channel off Koh Phangan.
Search efforts overnight were hampered by strong waves and winds outside the bay and were suspended at 01:00 before resuming at 09:00 on Thursday.
Koh Samui district chief Amorn Chumchuay said the rescue involved several agencies and local jet-ski operators, who continued the search overnight and into the morning until the three tourists were found.
