Issued at 22.00 Hrs. (GMT+7) on 15 July 2018
The recovery team on Sunday night was able to retrieve the 47th body from under the sunken Phoenix. The body was brought back to the Phuket Deep Sea Port and was later sent to Vachira Phuket Hospital for an autopsy and identity verification process.
A one-minute silence was observed last night at the Phuket Deep Sea Port in remembrance of all 47 people who lost their lives in the tragic boat incident, which took place on 5 July.
Present at the event were Mr. Norraphat Plodthong, Phuket Provincial Governor; Vice Admiral Somnuk Preampramot, Commander of the Royal Thai Navy Third Naval Area Command; H.E. Mr. Lyu Jian, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Kingdom of Thailand; Mr. Zhou Haicheng, Consul-General of the People’s Republic of China in Songkhla; Mr. Chen Xiongfeng, Deputy Director-General, Department of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China; Pol. Maj. Gen Teerapol Thipcharoen, Phuket Provincial Police Commander; and officials, representatives and figures from the public and private sectors as well as members of the media.
H.E. Mr. Lyu Jian, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Kingdom of Thailand, expressed his deepest condolences to people who lost their family and those who were injured in this incident. He said ‘finding missing people and taking care of injured tourists and people who lost their loved ones are a priority for both the Thai and Chinese governments’.
He said that the recovery team was working against the clock to find every missing body. The sea-air-land search mission involved more than 80 boat trips, 60 helicopter trips as well as thousands of military officers and personnel from the Royal Thai Army, Royal Thai Navy and Royal Thai Air Force.
On behalf of the government of the People’s Republic of China, H.E. Mr. Lyu Jian expressed thanks to the Thai government, military, police and volunteers for the unity of efforts exerted during the recovery mission. He also applauded the Thai public and private sectors for exerting every effort to provide support and comfort to the injured tourists and people who lost their loved ones.
The Chinese government expected Thailand to handle all investigation activities in connection with this incident according to law, and that the incident should serve as a lesson to improve tourism development between the two nations as well as to assure confidence on tourist safety measures and standards among Chinese tourists.
