German survives nine hours in the sea
A German man floated in the Gulf of Thailand for nine hours after falling off a ferry before being rescued by a fisherman, writes Bangkok Post.
The fisherman found the unfortunate 47-year-old drowning man from Berlin clung to a rock a few kilometers from Koh Tao on Wednesday.
The man told police after his perilous story went on deck to smoke a cigarette and was startled by something. He lost his balance and fell off the boat. Miraculously, the German's mobile phone still worked after his fall into the water. He managed to call his Thai business partner. He alerted the police. The first thing the German said was, "Do you hear me?" In the second call, he said, "Help me, I'm in the water." And finally: 'The boat is gone.' Then the phone battery was dead.
The police sent a patrol boat and the Navy also sent a ship to search for him. Vessels in the area were called out to watch for the man.
Chakkrit Kiriwat, the captain of the fishing boat that rescued the German, was on his fishing boat with tourists on a fishing trip. He saw the German drowning man waving his t-shirt. The man was completely exhausted and on the verge of drowning. The German works in the tourism industry and has been living on Koh Tao for almost 10 years.