Little hope for tourists missing after boat capsizes

Thai rescuers were searching for at least five tourists still missing today after their overcrowded boat capsized and sank while carrying revellers back from a full-moon beach party.

At least seven people were killed and the search teams held out little hope of finding more survivors.

Police said 11 people were missing in the Pha-Ngan and Samui areas of southern Thailand, but authorities have so far only been able to confirm that five of them were on the boat.

It was not clear how many of the missing were Thai and how many were foreigners.

"The information about missing people is very sketchy because the people we have talked to often don’t know whether their friends or relatives were on that boat,” said Lieutenant Korjaru Sangamantorn, the marine police chief.

The 30-foot boat was carrying about 40-50 people when it sank, far more than the 25-30 it was designed for, police said.

The boat capsized as it was travelling from Pha-Ngan, which attracts thousands of young foreigners to monthly full moon parties, to the larger resort island of Samui. Survivors who were rescued about three miles from Samui’s pier said most of the boat’s passengers had been drunk.

The seven people who died in the accident were not carrying identification, said police Lieutenant Colonel Veerayuth Hiran.