10 Chinese tourist die, dozens missing in Thailand as boat sinks

At least ten tourists were killed and 45 others are missing as a boat with Chinese tourists sank in a storm off the resort island of Phuket on Friday, officials said.

Nine bodies of the Chinese tourists were being brought to Phuket, where authorities had already confirmed the death of another Chinese man, reports AP.

Some of the bodies were found by divers who entered the wreck Friday and others were floating in the water, said navy official Narong Aurabhakdi.

The boat was carrying 105 people, including 93 tourists, 11 crew and one tour guide when it toppled in 5-meter (16-foot) -high waves on Thursday evening. At least 12 of the injured were hospitalised.

The incident comes as rescuers, also led by Thai navy divers, struggle to extract 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in the country's far north, where they've been trapped since June 23.

Another boat also overturned off Phuket on Thursday. Officials said all 42 on board have been rescued.

Jin Yilin, consul-general of the Chinese Embassy in Thailand, said a delegation from the Chinese Foreign Ministry is on the way to Thailand.

Thai PBS television reported late Thursday that 12 boats with 263 passengers in all had been forced by the weather to stay docked at Racha island, a popular diving spot about an hour's boat ride from Phuket.

They said they were providing food, shelter and water to the people, and if the weather did not clear, larger boats belonging to the navy would be sent to retrieve them.

The Thai incidents came after an overloaded boat carrying illegal Indonesian immigrants capsized in bad weather off Malaysia's southern Johor state late Sunday.

The Malaysian coast guard said Friday that 25 people, including a woman, have been rescued. Ten others, including four women, were found dead. Rescue operations involving 150 personnel are ongoing for another nine people believed to be still missing.

Such tragedies are not uncommon in Malaysia. Many Indonesians are willing to risk their lives by travelling on boats believed to be old and unsafe to work in Malaysia illegally, or to return to their hometowns.