PHUKET: Five people from on board a dive boat where an American diver vanished at the weekend are being carried back to shore by speedboat to be interviewed by police on Phuket tonight.

The managers of the liveaboard vessel Chontara I have organised the interception at sea and speedy trip back to assist the investigation into the disappearance of American Joshua Michael Devine, 36.

Meanwhile, Mr Devine's wife Tadsana says she remains unsatisfied that Thai authorities have done as much as they should have to find her husband, especially immediately after he went overboard when there was a strong chance he was still alive.

''I was shocked when I heard the officer say there was just one Marine Police vessel capable of going to search in deep seas,'' Mrs Devine said.

''The Andaman coast is supposed to be tops for tourism in Thailand yet no money is being invested in seriously protecting visitors.''

She was told that Marine Police also had to handle three other issues at sea that day - including allegations of a collision between a diveboat and a yacht in which a Danish crew member was tipped overboard.

The result: the search for Mr Devine, who disappeared about 4am, was not begun by Marine Police until that afternoon.

The diveboat itself searched until Mrs Devine was able to board the Marine Police vessel, then continued on its planned voyage to the Similan islands.

The lack of information from the dive boat has led to increasing anxiety among Mr Devine's relatives in the US, with his mother and sister now trying to travel to Phuket.

According to a US report, Mr Devine's family believes there is a lack of urgency in the search. Thai authorities suspended the hunt for Mr Devine yesterday as Thailand celebrated its New Year.

The sole Marine Police vessel headed out to search again today but returned to port in the face of a storm.

Mrs Devine says that Joshua had a long record of involvement with Mermaid Diving, the company managing the Chontara I.

''He learned to dive through Mermaid and over the years qualified as an instructor with them,'' Mrs Devine said.

''Joshua made several trips to Phuket without me to dive so I can't say precisely how strong his connections were with people there.''

Mr Devine, formerly in the US Army, was an IT contractor in Kuwait working with the US military at the time he and his wife came to Phuket last week for their Similans diving adventure.

The Chontara I sailed at midnight on Friday and Mr Devine shared drinks with some others on board. At one stage, Mrs Devine said, her husband appeared agitated and said he wished to be alone.

The two people drinking with him in an equipment storeroom left him alone for 10 minutes. When they returned, Joshua had vanished, Mrs Devine said.

Mrs Devine and her husband's friends say he was not suicidal but Mrs Devine says his demeanor changed when drinking alcohol.

An officer at Cherng Talay Police Station, Lieutenant Thanapob Rattanaburi, will interview the five people from the dive boat once a minivan carries them south to Phuket from the Tablamu Pier in Phang Nga, the province north of Phuket.

The speedboat is due to arrive about 6pm. The dive boat is due about midnight.

Police have alerted the Royal Thai Navy, police stations and fishing networks along the Andaman coast north of Phuket that a diver is missing.

One US report of Mr Devine's disappearance comes from masslive.com as follows:

When Jennifer Bakowski received the call learning her brother was missing, she was told he had been drinking heavily on the ship and at about 3am essentially had a melt-down.

''He saw a little red light in his cabin and he flew off the handle, ripped the light off the wall and said, 'They are watching me, why are you watching me,''' she said. ''That paranoia doesn't happen when you are drunk.''

He was making a lot of noise and was breaking things. His wife said he tried to choke her.

At that point two men, who are acquaintances and have been on dive trips with Devine before, came to his room and tried to calm him down. They brought him to a storage room on the ship and tried to talk to him, she said.

''He sent them away. He said he wanted to be by himself,'' she said. ''They left him alone and 10 to 15 minutes later they went back and he was gone.''

Later Bakowski said she heard another version of the story where Josh appeared in the captain's room naked. He stayed a few minutes and then left.

''That was the last time anyone saw him,'' she said. Around 4am his wife reported Devine missing and the captain woke up other passengers on the boat and started a search.

More frustrating is trying to get information from half-way around the world and during the Thai New Year's festival where nearly everything seems to shut down, said Bakowski, who now lives in Enfield, Connecticut.