A CHINESE TOURIST who was airlifted by an emergency helicopter from Surin island to a Phuket hospital this afternoon is out of danger.

But she was unable to tell doctors at Vachira Hospital who she was or what had happened.

Rangers at Surin ordered up a Royal Navy helicopter that flew with a doctor to collect the woman and transfer her to the Phuket City hospital.

The woman was unable to speak and there were no other clues to her identity. She was dressed only in a bathing suit.

Navy rescuers were eventually able to identify her as Sinjie Zou, 26, from China.

Rangers told the doctor she had begun bleeding from the nose, which can be a symptom of diving too deep underwater.

First aid was performed on the woman, but rangers felt that she needed to be evacuated.

Doctors at Vachira this afternoon reported that her pulse was regular and she was breathing normally - but she was still unable to talk.

The Similan islands and the even more remote Surin island are top dive and snorkelling destinations, popular with live-aboards and day-trippers.

The islands are usually accessed by boat from the pier at Tab Lamu, which is alongside the large Navy base in Phang Nga, the province north of Phuket.