Passengers unhurt after cruise ship from Singapore hits reef off Krabi
More than 140 people had to be rescued on Monday after a Belgian-owned cruise ship hit a reef off Krabi, Thailand.
No one was injured, the Bangkok Post reported.
The 4,000-ton ship, La Belle des Oceans, had departed from Singapore for Koh Lanta and was carrying 77 passengers, most of them French tourists, and crew.
On Sunday night, it left Koh Lanta for Phuket.
The vessel hit submerged rocks near Koh Bida Nok, part of the Phi Phi Islands group in Krabi province, around midnight, said the Bangkok Post.
The sector was part of a round-trip excursion from Singapore to the resort island.
According to a statement posted on Facebook by the Royal Thai Navy, a navy ship with an emergency medical team was dispatched to provide assistance.
A Phuket Shipping representative, Mr Pramok Urawan, told The Phuket News that the tourists were taken to the Novotel Phuket Phokeethra in Phuket Town.
A spokesman for the ship's company, CroisiEurope, told The New Paper last night that the incident happened at the end of the cruise.
"Passengers were supposed to spend one last night on board the ship," the spokesman said. "So they stayed in a hotel in Phuket."
All visits were done as per the programme, the spokesman added, and the guests were on their way back to France, as per the regular programme.
The company will be offering the passengers compensation.
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