PATTAYA – A group of four French tourists went missing at sea, unreachable since Wednesday morning. As a result, the Pattaya water rescue team frantically searched for them. Later, they found only an empty boat floating in the middle of the sea, fearing that they may have encountered a tragic accident. However, in the end, they were fortunate that the rescue team found them stranded on an island.
The four French tourists are Mr. Adrien, 38 years old, Mr. Mehdi, 47 years old, Mr. Vincent, 30 years old, and Mr. Stefan, 32 years old. They went out on a boat to go spearfishing at 7:00 a.m. on May 1. After that, they lost contact and disappeared. Both foreign and Thai friends were unable to contact them.
Later, a Facebook user named Supoj Chomdokmai posted a picture of a 1-engine speedboat named “VAZIMOLO” with a message saying, “Friends, please help share this. This boat went out at Na Jomtien this morning, May 1, around 7:00 AM. It has not returned to shore yet and is unreachable. There were 4 people on board. If anyone sees it, please contact me.”
He posted again that someone found this boat floating aimlessly in the middle of the sea, about 11 nautical miles from Koh Si Chang, Si Racha district, towards the Bangkok channel, but no one was found on the boat.
After that, the water rescue operation team of the Sawang Boriboon Rescue Foundation in Pattaya launched a speedboat from the Jomtien Pier, Moo 12, Nong Prue Subdistrict, Bang Lamung District, Chonburi Province, to search for them but could not find them.
Until 10:45 a.m. on May 2, the Sawang Rojanapattaya rescue team and the sailor Ek who posted the search message on Facebook found the four foreigners stranded on Koh Marawichai, Bang Lamung District, Chonburi Province. They were all safe but in an exhausted and hungry state.
The rescue team brought them back to Bang Saray Pier, Na Jomtien Subdistrict at 12:10 p.m. Pattaya tourist police came down to question them and follow up on everything that happened.
Mr. Adrien stated that they went diving at Koh Marawichai and anchored their boat. However, when they surfaced again, the anchored boat had drifted away, causing it to float far from the island. So they stayed on the island for one night before a rescue boat arrived. They then conveyed hand gestures for assistance.
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