Speedboat capsizes off Phu Quoc, killing 15 Indian tourists

A speedboat carrying 36 people overturned about 400 meters off Hon May Rut Ngoai Island near Phu Quoc, leaving 15 dead and 21 survivors. The boat was carrying 32 Indian tourists, three crew members and one attendant when it capsized in rough seas off southern Vietnam’s largest island, a major tourism hub.

The accident immediately put Vietnam’s tourist-boat safety controls in focus, from weather checks to passenger limits and emergency response. The cause was not immediately clear, and rescue teams from multiple agencies joined the search-and-rescue effort as crews worked to bring everyone ashore from waters off the island’s southern coast.

Indian authorities moved quickly to set up emergency response centers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to help affected families. The Indian Embassy in Vietnam said it was monitoring the incident, while reports said all 36 people on board were eventually brought ashore, with some survivors in critical condition.

Hon May Rut Ngoai Island lies about 10 kilometers south of Phu Quoc, an area known for island tours and fast-growing tourism traffic. The capsize happened in a corridor that has become central to Vietnam’s leisure travel industry, where routine excursion boats carry large numbers of visitors around one of the country’s busiest destinations.

The vessel overturned while returning from an island trip, turning a short tourist outing into one of the deadliest maritime accidents involving foreign visitors off Vietnam in recent years. With rough seas reported at the time and the investigation underway, attention now falls on whether local oversight matched the risks posed by weather, vessel capacity and emergency preparedness on a crowded holiday route.