PHUKET, Thailand: Thailand has recovered the last body after a boating accident killed dozens of Chinese tourists this month off the southern resort island of Phuket.
The Phoenix was carrying 105 people — mostly Chinese — when it sank on the way back from a popular snorkeling spot on July 5.
Divers and the navy spent more than a week retrieving bodies, some from inside the boat, as outraged relatives waited for news.
Phuket’s public relations department said in a statement late Sunday that the “last body of the dead from the Phoenix boat accident” was recovered that night.
“All missing found,” the statement added, putting the final death toll at 47.
A minute’s silence was held for the victims at a ceremony attended by the Chinese ambassador.
The Phoenix was among three vessels which ignored a bad weather warning against day trips to the islands around Phuket.
The disaster was one of the worst boating accidents in recent history in Thailand, which has a poor safety record despite being heavily reliant on tourism.
But it received little international attention compared to the dramatic rescue of 12 children and their football coach from a cave in northern Thailand.
The country last year received 35 million tourists of whom nearly 10 million were from China, government statistics show.
Thailand retrieves final body in boating disaster
Thailand retrieves final body in boating disaster
Hundreds rally in Paris to support Ukraine after four years of war
- Demonstrators chanted: “We support Ukraine against Putin, who is killing it“
- “Frozen Russian assets must be confiscated, they belong to Ukraine“
PARIS: Around one thousand took to the streets of Paris on Saturday to show their “massive support” for Ukraine, just days before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
Demonstrators marching through the French capital chanted: “We support Ukraine against Putin, who is killing it,” and “Frozen Russian assets must be confiscated, they belong to Ukraine.”
“In public opinion, there is massive support for Ukraine that has not wavered since the first day of the full-scale invasion” by the Russian army on February 24, 2022, European Parliament member Raphael Glucksmann, told AFP.
“On the other hand, in the French political class, sounds of giving up are starting to emerge. On both the far left and the far right, voices of capitulation are getting louder and louder,” he added.
In the crowd, Irina Kryvosheia, a Ukrainian who arrived in France several years ago, “thanked with all her heart the people present.”
She said they reminded “everyone that what has been happening for four years is not normal, it is not right.”
Kryvosheia said she remains in daily contact with her parents in Kyiv, who told her how they were deprived “for several days” of heating, electricity and running water following intense bombardments by the Russian army.
Francois Grunewald, head of “Comite d’Aide Medicale Ukraine,” had just returned from a one-month mission in the country, where the humanitarian organization has delivered around forty generators since the beginning of the year.
Russia’s full-scale invasion sent shockwaves around the world and triggered the bloodiest and most destructive conflict in Europe since World War II.
The war has seen tens of thousands of civilians and hundreds of thousands of military personnel killed on both sides. Millions of refugees have fled Ukraine, where vast areas have been devastated by fighting.
Russia occupies nearly 20 percent of Ukrainian territory and its heavy attacks on the country’s energy sites have sparked a major energy crisis.
