Video Shows Passengers Leap Into Sea From Thai Ferry Engulfed in Flames
Viral footage has captured the moment scores of passengers on a ferry in Thailand abandoned ship as the boat carrying them became engulfed in flames—a terrifying ordeal that had a relatively happy ending, with no lives lost.
The blaze broke out on a boat in the Gulf of Thailand on Thursday morning, sending its 108 people on board—many of whom were reported to be backpacking tourists—jumping for their lives.
The vessel was an early-morning ferry that left Thailand’s Surat Thani province bound for the popular tourist destination Koh Tao, which has eerily been nicknamed “Death Island” for a pair of tourist murders there in 2014. All seemed fine on the 62-mile voyage until one passenger heard a crackling sound and smelled smoke, those on board told the Associated Press.