Concerns have heightened for a 26-year-old British traveler who disappeared after allegedly getting stuck when a fire broke out on a vessel near the shores of Thailand’s infamous “Death Island“.
A huge air and sea mission has resumed in a desperate attempted to find the missing backpacker Alexandra Clarke, from South London.
Reports suggest that Alexandra went missing after going to the toilet during the fire incident on the diving boat, located five miles away from “Death Island” Koh Tao – last Sunday morning.
The horror blaze reportedly started from an air compressor on the wooden tourist vessel.
Cops on Monday revealed Alexandra was still missing with authorities stepping up their search efforts.
Boats, specialist divers and a helicopter have been deployed to scour the area where the wooden tourist boat went down.
The Deputy Director of the local Naval Captain Natthapol Sinphulphon stated that divers were unsuccessful in locating Alexandra during the first search operation.
Sinphulphon said: “When the dive team entered the boat to search, they could not locate the missing tourist, and the boat sank shortly after.
“It was also getting dark, and by 8 PM, the dive team was exhausted, so they contacted the Maritime Enforcement Coordination Center (MEC) for assistance.”
The director added more specialised crews were needed as the area the dive vessel sank was up to 45 meters deep.
Officials said at least 16 tourists were onboard the boat, named Davy Jones Locker, as well as two crew and four instructors from the scuba diving firm.
Charges have also been filed against the boat operator and staff for negligence.
Police said a Burmese crew member, Teo, 48, is understood to have been operating an air compressor to fill diving tanks when a malfunction occurred, causing the compressor to catch fire.
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