Four Frenchmen Lost at Sea Found Safe on Thai Island

[webfact]

 

Four French nationals reported missing after a fishing trip in Thailand have been found safe. The men embarked from Jomtien Beach, heading for Koh Maravichai on May 1st, 2024.

 

Their empty vessel was later discovered near Koh Si Chang, triggering a search operation. The missing men, identified as Adrien Simon (38), Mehdi Benchoula (47), Vincent Ferrer (30), and Stefan Stauat (32), were found unharmed on Koh Maravichai the next day. 

 

Various local agencies, including Pattaya Tourist Police and Pattaya Marine Rescue Volunteers, were involved in the rescue operation. The four men were subsequently transported to a nearby beach in Sattahip in good health.

 

Mr. Simon explained the group went diving and fishing off Koh Maravichai, leaving their anchored boat unattended. In their absence, the boat came loose from its anchor and drifted away. Unable to locate the boat upon resurfacing, the men spent a night on the island until rescue services arrived.

 

Picture courtesy of The Pattaya News

 

-- 2024-05-03

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[jacko45k]

Odd the boat was left unattended...... I thought a Thai captain would be slumbering there. 

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Mr. Simon explained the group went diving and fishing off Koh Maravichai, leaving their anchored boat unattended. In their absence, the boat came loose from its anchor and drifted away. Unable to locate the boat upon resurfacing, the men spent a night on the island until rescue services arrived.

Dumb, dumb, dumb and dummer.

[Tropicalevo]

2 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Odd the boat was left unattended...... I thought a Thai captain would be slumbering there. 

What Thai captain?

[newbee2022]

2 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Odd the boat was left unattended...... I thought a Thai captain would be slumbering there. 

If it was an inflatable they didn't need to have a Thai Captain. 

[brianthainess]

Did they leave 2 of them behind ?.............

[Korat Kiwi]

They were in the process of putting a letter in a bottle.... 

 

To be more precise, a French letter with come in it. 

[khunjeff]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

The men embarked from Jomtien Beach, heading for Koh Maravichai on May 1st, 2024.

 

Their empty vessel was later discovered near Koh Si Chang, triggering a search operation. The missing men...were found unharmed on Koh Maravichai the next day. 

 

So they were found at exactly the place they were headed for - that must have been a massive search!

[craighj]

Maybe it's just me and my doubting nature but I smell a rat or at least something "fishy" with this story.  Hmmm just does not sit well.

 

[n8sail]

1 hour ago, newbee2022 said:

If it was an inflatable they didn't need to have a Thai Captain. 

Foreigners can own any type of boat of any size and hull material AND captain it by themselves so long as the boat is only private use, not commercial and registered as such with Marine and also Harbour Department.  No Thai captain needed.

I think the island name is mis-spelled or translated to Roman characters incorrectly.  There is a Koh Man Wichai, a long, narrow island to Southwest of Koh Larn.  I have anchored there a few times, very tricky place to anchor.   There is little to no protection from either predominant wind direction, and the tempting places to anchor that aren't 15+ meters deep are just shallow sand on bedrock bottom.  So the anchor will feel set sometimes, but very easily drag as there isn't enough sand to hold well.

 

Idiots not to have one person stay behind on the boat.  It was blowing 20 knots out there at times yesterday from SSW.

 

[Denim]

I know what Jacques Cousteau would have said :

 

' Moi et mon amie were in great peril '

[Ben Zioner]

They look too young to be those lost during the Rainbow Warrior operation in the early eighties.

[jacko45k]

21 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

What Thai captain?

Well yes, that is the point with a presumably rented boat.

[jacko45k]

21 hours ago, newbee2022 said:

If it was an inflatable they didn't need to have a Thai Captain. 

The picture I saw looked like a speedboat.

[newbee2022]

2 hours ago, jacko45k said:

The picture I saw looked like a speedboat.

Yeah, a speeding inflatable?🤗

[Korat Kiwi]

22 hours ago, Ben Zioner said:

They look too young to be those lost during the Rainbow Warrior operation in the early eighties.

It was a piece of green that they had,  not Greenpeace. 

[Ben Zioner]

16 minutes ago, Korat Kiwi said:

It was a piece of green that they had,  not Greenpeace. 

Yeah.. But same level of skill, remember they were supposed to be on a honeymoon, and the first thing the police found out was that they didn't have sex.