Tourist tells of horror after speedboat sinks in rough seas near Thai resort

A BRITISH tourist has spoken of his ordeal when a speedboat on which he was travelling with dozens of other foreign tourists sank in abnormally rough seas near Thailand’s popular resort island of Koh Phi Phi.

The boat, carrying 37 European and Asian tourists and four Thai crew members, had been heading to Phuket island, another popular resort.

Briton Colin Dallimors, 48, said the vessel was swamped by one giant wave which stopped the engine, and then struck by another wave soon afterwards which caused it to sink.

“Everyone was trying to get out. The boat sank,” Mr Dallimors said. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Marine Police Lieutenant Colonel Panya Chaichana said navy ships, fishing boats and other nearby vessels raced to the scene in the Andaman Sea and were able to rescue everyone on board.

William Ihaka, a 43-year-old Australian tourist who was among those rescued, said the experience was terrifying.

“The sea was very rough. The water kept coming over the front [of] the boat, and there was so much water coming over the front that the boat started filling up with water,” he said.

“The crew told us to put life jackets on, and about five minutes later the boat sank. So we all jumped off. We were floating in the sea.”

Another Australian, Elizabeth Hickey, 39, who was travelling with Mr Ihaka, said she was “scared and petrified”.

“We were both seated at the front, and the water hit us before it hit anyone else,” she said. “We could see the waves, and we just knew that it was going to go down, we knew that the boat was going to sink.”