Twelve tourists rescued when speedboat sinks off coast of Thailand

This is the dramatic moment 12 tourists were rescued from a sinking speedboat off the coast of Thailand.

The passengers were onboard the Tara Jade boat when it began taking on water due to a pump failure near Koh Lan island in Pattaya on July 13 evening.

Ed Chankrajai, the operator of another speedboat, the Yodtong, found the Tara Jade starting to list in the water, and sprang to action to rescue those onboard.

He said: 'The stern of the boat looked like it was about to sink, so I immediately went to help. I saw seawater flowing into the boat so I immediately shouted for the tourists to wear life jackets. I took them back to the Bali Hai Pier on my speedboat, and they are now all safe.'

The Tara Jade has been towed by authorities back to the coast.

Its captain, Chamroon Thanapreecha, 62, said: 'I was transporting passengers from Koh Lan when the pump suddenly stopped working. Water flowed into the boat, which caused the engine to fail.'

He thanked Ed for responding swiftly to his distress call.

In July 2018, two tourist boats carrying mostly Chinese tourists sank in a massive storm in Phuket.

The double-decker cruise boat Phoenix PC Diving, and the tourist boat Serenita, were struck by rough waves, killing at least 46 people and leaving three missing.

Thai authorities have blamed Chinese tour operators in Phuket for the deadly accidents.