Soon after 6pm the Royal Thai Navy reported finding the three fishermen missing at sea since Friday alive. They were being brought back to shore at Cape Panwa this evening.


FAMILIES from a small Phuket fishing community were praying today at the local temple for five men missing at sea after two separate incidents, five days apart.

The Saphan Hin fishing village has never suffered a loss on this scale before.

The village, part of the large, urban sprawl that is modern Phuket City, has a much lower profile than the nearby public park and the island's landmark incinerator.

On the night of Friday, January 22, three men went out to sea on a nine-metre fishing vessel. They did not return.

Then last night about 10pm, a vessel from the Marine Biology Centre at Cape Panwa responded to a call for help. A boat that is used to mostly transport second-hand goods had sunk.

The crew of the Cape Panwa boat plucked three men from the sea. Two others are still missing.

Marine Police and the Royal Thai Navy were at sea again this afternoon, looking for survivors or bodies from both incidents.

About 30 people from the village went to the navy station at Cape Panwa today to ask for help.

Ketsorn Robkob, 50, whose 26-year-old husband Praween Sangsorn went missing on Friday, said that usually the fishing boats were out for a maximum of two nights.

''The boat sailed about 1pm on Friday, so it is well overdue now,'' she said. ''We can only hope and pray. We worried when a big storm swept in on Sunday.''

Mother of two daughters, Khun Nok, the wife of Sanchai Pinmet, 35, said fishing was their main income. Another wife, whose husband, Chusak Seaaung, 30, is missing, was too distressed to talk.

Phuket's worst lost at sea in recent memory came in March last year when a dive boat returning from the Similan islands capsized and sank within sight of Patong.

Six tourists and the Thai cook drowned while 23 others had a narrow escape, in some cases fighting their way up from below decks to the liferaft.