Amaravati, 11 July  

Two people from Andhra Pradesh were killed and three others from the state were hospitalised in Vietnam following a tourist boat capsize near Phu Quoc Island, sources in the Andhra Pradesh government said.

The tourist speedboat carrying 32 Indian tourists and four crew members capsized near Phu Quoc Island while returning to An Thoi Port, the sources further said.

The accident claimed the lives of 15 Indian tourists, while 21 others were rescued. Of the survivors, 17 were passengers, and four were crew members. Two remained in critical condition, and all 36 persons on board have been accounted for.

Of the 15 victims, 10 were from Tamil Nadu, three were from Andhra Pradesh and two were from Kerala. Two of the deceased were women, according to a list shared by the Indian Embassy on X. "A big wave hit us, 20 people came out of it, and the balance members got stuck,” Nirmal Kumar, a survivor, told PTI Videos.

“It's a closed boat. Since we were on the front, we (Kumar and a friend) managed to survive. Others who were behind, got stuck. The boat authorities maintained proper safety measures," he said.

Television footage aired by Vietnamese media showed rough seas and strong winds as rescue teams threw life buoys to people in the water, AP news agency reported. Jet skis were used to ferry survivors to the shore, where bystanders administered first aid to some of the victims, it said.

The exact cause of the incident is yet to be ascertained.

"Preliminary information indicates that two persons from Machilipatnam are among the deceased. We are coordinating with the Indian Embassy and the Vietnamese authorities, and further details will be shared after official confirmation," Andhra Pradesh sources told PTI.

Three other people from the state were hospitalised following the boat capsize, the sources added.

The An Thoi Border Guard Station, the Navy, Coast Guard Region 4 and local boats launched a large-scale rescue operation. Life rafts and jet skis were deployed, they said.

The tour was organised by Vietnam-based Threeland Travel through local coordinating vendor Sai Vietnam, while the Indian tourist group was reportedly associated with a mobile company.

Preliminary reports indicated that Jalalakshmi and Jayashree, both from Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, were among the deceased.

Verification of the identities of other affected Indian nationals was underway, the sources said.

The cause of the accident was under investigation, with rough sea conditions and possible mechanical failure suspected.

Meanwhile, Harihar Srinivas, a member of the Indian group, told PTI on Saturday that 105 mobile distributors from South India had travelled to Vietnam on a business incentive trip.

According to Srinivas, eight people from Telangana were also part of the overall tour, but none of them was on the boat that capsized.

He said the group had reached the island on Saturday. The visit was part of a business incentive programme for distributors who had achieved their sales targets.

Srinivas declined to identify the company that had organised the trip.

"As far as we know, around 70 members were hospitalised. We took them to the hospital, but we do not know what happened afterwards because we are still on the island," he said.

Explaining the incident, Srinivas said strong winds caused the boat to overturn. It was a closed boat. That is the issue. If it had been an open boat, the risk might not have been as high, he added.