03 Aug, 2020
SURAT THANI: The provincial disaster prevention and mitigation office has suspended all evening and night ferry services to and from three major tourist islands because of stormy seas in the Gulf of Thailand.
The order, signed by governor Wichawut Jinto, was issued on Sunday in a radio message to all regional marine offices and other agencies responsible for overseeing marine operations.
The order suspended boat services on the Don Sak-Koh Samui-Koh Phangan route between 5pm and 5am, from Aug 2-4.
The order also suspended all ferry services between Koh Tao and Koh Phangan, from 5pm on Aug 2 to 3pm on Aug 4.
Mr Wichawut also said 10 foreign diving instructors on Koh Tao would on Monday join the search for four people still missing after the ferry boat Raja 4 capsized off Koh Samui island during a storm on Saturday night.
The 10 instructors also took part in the rescue of 13 members of a junior football team and their coach from the Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district in 2018, the governor said.
They had volunteered to help in the Raja 4 search.
