PHANG-NGA, March 30 (TNA) – An Iranian tourist went missing when a runoff hit his inflatable boat during a whitewater trip in the Song Phraek stream yesterday. Rescuers were still searching for him.
A 38-year-old tour manager identified himself only as Damrong said the stream was normal when the rafting session of tourists on three inflatable boats started but suddenly a runoff emerged. Two boats returned to a bank just in time but the other was thrown to rocks and a pile cap of a bridge. It capsized. Steersmen and other tourists got up from the stream safely except the 42-year-old Iranian man.
Eyewitnesses said five foreign tourists boarded the boat with two steersmen. It capsized and got stuck to the bridge’s pile cap. Four tourists and the steersmen floated downstream and were rescued. The Iranian remained stuck in the boat. People took about 20 minutes to retrieve it but the Iranian man went missing.
Scuba divers could not find him in the powerful stream yesterday. The search resumed at about 7am today. (TNA)
