Tourist boat packed with 55 people smashes into trawler and sinks off Thai coast

An 18-year-old woman has reportedly died after a speedboat filled with tourists crashed into a fishing trawler off the coast of Thailand.

The 52 passengers and three crew on the Korawich Marine 888 were thrown into the sea around the Phi-Phi Islands, a popular visitor hotspot in the country’s south-west.

Their boat overturned before sinking in the Andaman Sea, with its front torn off by the collision.

Reports suggest at least a dozen tourists were injured, while one woman was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

The teenager, thought to be a Russian named Elizaveta S, was later reported to have died.

Witnesses described scenes of panic in the water, with passengers scrambling to help their loved ones stay above the surface.

One account said: ‘People were screaming and holding onto each other.’

The crash happened near Koh Gai Island, in the bay near the massively popular tourist destination Phuket.

Thai officials said the fishing trawler Pichai Samut 1 was not damaged in the collision.

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