85 tourists briefly stranded in front of Emerald Cave

BANGKOK (The Nation/Asia News Network): Eighty-five tourists experienced some scary moments when the anchor rope on their two-storey tour boat ruptured, leaving them stranded for more than 20 minutes in front of the Emerald Cave (Tham Morakot). All were wearing life vests.

The incident occurred on May 6 near Koh Libong in Libong sub-district, Kantang district of Trang province.

According to Prit Narasaritkul, Chief of Hat Chao Mai National Park in Mai Fat sub-district, of Trang’s Sikao district, the “Natcha” tour boat took the tourists from Pak Meng Pier in Mai Fat sub-district for a tour in the Andaman Sea. They arrived at the Emerald Cave at around 2pm and descended the ladder to swim towards the cave and the beach.

However, after all the tourists had disembarked, the rope used for anchoring the tour boat broke, forcing the captain to steer the vessel out of the docking area. This is regularly done to avoid congestion caused by several other tour boats entering, exiting and docking in the area near the cave, Prit said.

Despite a 20-minute delay in getting the tour boat back to the docking area for re-boarding, none of the tourists suffered any consequences and all returned safely to the boat, Prit added.

Following this incident, the Hat Chao Mai National Park will implement measures to oversee safety issues and docking of tour boats in the area around the Emerald Cave Prit said.

The incident was a topic of much discussion on social media after a TikTok user posted a video on May 9 of the seemingly stranded tourists waiting to re-board.