Thai rescuers pulled 37 bodies from waters off the coast of the holiday island of Phuket on Friday after a tourist boat went down in heavy seas with dozens of Chinese passengers on board.
Many of the dead were found drifting face down in the water, still wearing life jackets, several kilometres (miles) from where the Phoenix sank after being hit by five-metre (15-foot) high waves in a storm on Thursday evening.
“The death toll today is 37, with 18 still unaccounted for,” said a Thai navy official late Friday, requesting anonymity.
In a grisly development earlier, divers reported seeing “over 10 bodies” floating inside the hull of the submerged boat, according to Thai navy Rear Admiral Charoenphon Khumrasee, who said they would try to retrieve them later Friday.
One survivor, a Chinese woman, was rushed to hospital in Phuket, according to an AFP reporter at the scene, after she was found several kilometres from the boat having spent the night in the water.Her condition was unknown.
The three-decker boat was carrying 105 passengers, mostly Chinese tourists, when it sank.
“The skies were clear when we went out, we had no idea the weather could change so fast,” said Wu Jun, 28, from the hospital bedside of his wife Long Hai Ning.
