15 Indian tourists die as speedboat capsizes near Phu Quoc island

A speedboat carrying 32 Indian tourists and four crew members capsized near Hon May Rut Ngoai Island off Phu Quoc on Saturday, killing 15 people and sending 21 survivors for treatment. The vessel overturned about 400 meters from shore on the return leg toward An Thoi Port, and authorities said the cause had not yet been determined as rescue teams and investigators worked the scene.

The Indian Embassy in Hanoi set up emergency response centres in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to help families while search-and-rescue operations continued. The embassy said exact details were still being ascertained by local authorities, underscoring how quickly a tourist excursion on one of Vietnam’s busiest coastal routes turned into a mass-casualty emergency.

The deaths put fresh pressure on Vietnam’s marine-safety oversight in Phu Quoc, where tourism has grown rapidly. Phu Quoc drew more than 8.1 million visitors in 2025, Kien Giang welcomed around 5,000 Indian visitors in the first two months of that year, Vietnam received nearly 21.17 million international visitors in 2025, and the National Authority of Tourism has set a target of 25 million foreign arrivals in 2026.

The wreck also revives memories of Ha Long Bay, where a tourist boat carrying 48 passengers and five crew members capsized during a sudden thunderstorm in July 2025, killing at least 37 people. With another deadly boating accident now striking a destination built on island-hopping trips, the questions are whether weather warnings, vessel limits and enforcement matched the speed of tourism growth.