THREE fishing buddies went on an outing off the southern coast of Phuket this weekend, but only two came back alive after a freak accident at sea on their rented longtail boat.

The longtail boat involved in the tragedy is, like others at Rawai, regularly rented to tourists and Thai locals. The fishing buddies decided it was a great weekend for a spot of angling.

Khun Ae, though, was short on cash and had to borrow his 500-baht share of the 1500 baht to hire the longtail to take them to an island off the coast on Saturday, then pick them up today.

The three fishing buddies usually have such fun that he wasn't going to miss out, even if he didn't have the cash.

The men went out to Kaew Nork island, and spent the night there after fishing for most of Saturday. The boatman picked them up as arranged at 10am today, the two survivors told Phuketwan at Rawai pier this afternoon. The body of their friend had just been loaded into an ambulance, bound for Vachira Hospital in Phuket City.

The men said they'd had a great trip. Then on the way back, said Anusorn Jantaramanee,32, everyone was on board when the boatman turned the vessel for Phuket and Rawai pier. As he turned the vessel, the anchor rope caught in the propeller of the longtail's engine.

It jerked the boat sharply, tipping it over and flinging all four men into the water. Three of the men made their way to the beach, but Khun Ae was nowhere to be seen, the other fishing buddy survivor, Preecha Apao, 30, told police at the nearest station, Chalong.

The surviving buddies said they didn't know Khun Ae's full name, but he had a family and a job in construction. Relatives of the men were among a crowd waiting at Rawai pier for the three to return this afternoon. The two survivors, both from Phuket, could swim. But they were not sure about their lost buddy, who was from another province.

Khun Ae was sitting at the front of the longtail boat and may have been knocked out if he was hit by the uplifted prow.