Local authorities say two Cambodian crew members abandoned their boat with 41 Chinese nationals on board as it sank in the Gulf of Thailand, leaving at least one person dead and more than 20 missing.
A speedboat rescued the Chinese passengers from the sinking fishing boat near Sihanoukville.abc.net.au/news/cambodia-searches-21-missing-chinese-people-boat-sinks/101470754Two Cambodian crew members abandoned their boat with 41 Chinese nationals on board as it sank in the Gulf of Thailand, leaving at least one person dead and more than 20 missing, local authorities say.
Rescue workers yelled that more help was on its way and tossed life jackets and life-saving buoys toward the ramshackle boat as it slowly began to list to the right and slip below the surface, sending the passengers spilling into the water. Eighteen people were rescued at the time but another 23 were reported missing. One of them, a man, was found alive on Friday and a woman was found dead, according to provincial government spokesperson Kheang Phearom.
Photos provided by local police show those rescued standing on a pier on the Cambodian mainland wearing garish holiday clothes, but it was not clear whether they had been provided to them after they were pulled out of the water.Provincial police chief Major-General Chuon Narin told local media that the group of passengers had set off from the Chinese port of Guangzhou on September 11 on a speedboat, and had been transferred to the Cambodian fishing boat in international waters on September 17.
The boat had been close to its destination of the Cambodian province of Sihanoukville when its engine stopped and it began to sink, he said.