Seven dead as Thai tourist boat sinks

Seven dead as Thai tourist boat sinks

THAILAND: A speed boat packed with tourists heading to the Thai island of Koh Samui after an all-night beach party capsized on Tuesday, killing at least seven people, including several Westerners, police and.

The accident off Thailand's east coast came just a month after thousands of foreign tourists died in the Indian Ocean tsunami along the country's western shoreline.

Seventeen people were reported missing, including three Swedes, two Hungarians, a Swiss, a German, an Austrian, a Norwegian and a Briton, said a police officer on Samui island.

The dead were identified as an American man in his 30s, two other Western men, a Western woman, and three Thais, he said. The U.S. embassy in Bangkok declined to confirm an American had died, but said it was sending two consular officers to Samui.

Thai authorities said the accident may have been caused by overcrowding on the 40-seat, open-air motor boat which was carrying up to 54 tourists.

The boat was heading to Samui from jungle-clad Pa Ngan island, where thousands of backpackers and Thais gather at every full moon for an all-night alcohol beach party.

"The speed boat was taking tourists back from the overnight full-moon party on Pa Ngan island back to Samui and sank at dawn," Col. Bundid Tungkaseranee told Reuters from a rescue helicopter. --Reuters