Center set up to assist sunken ferry tourists in Thai South

PHUKET, THAILAND, April 9 (TNA) - An ad-hoc center has been set up to assist Thai and foreign tourists who have been affected by Wednesday's incident, in which a ferry caught fire and sank in the sea between Krabi and Phuket Provinces in the Thai South. Police Lieutenant General Decha Butr-namphech, Chief of the Provincial Police Region 8, told journalists on Thursday that he has ordered the setting up of the assistance center in Phuket, where most of the affected tourists stay at local hotels. Located at Muang Phuket Police Station, the center is tasked with facilitating the affected international tourists and questioning them about the incident and their needs. Interpreters of many languages have been stationed at the center to help communicate with the affected foreign travelers. Police Lieutenant General Decha reported that a total of 91 affected international tourists, including some Thais and those from Britain, Australia, Hungary, China, have already registered with the center and 10 of them wanted to fly back to their home countries by April 9. The Ao Nang Princess 5 ferry caught fire while it was carrying about 100 international tourists from the Railay Bay in Krabi's Muang District to the Rassada Port in nearby Phuket Province and it then sank about eight kilometers off a pier of the Hat Noppharat Thara National Park in Krabi on April 8. (TNA)