Dramatic rescue footage from Thai boat tragedy

This was the dramatic moment a passing tour boat rescued dozens of stranded tourists after their vessel sank in rough seas in Phuket, Thailand.

Forty-two passengers were on board the Serenata yacht which capsized at the same time as the Phoenix diving boat carrying 105 people.

Passing speedboat the Aluminous 2 heard a May Day call from Serenata and braved the deadly conditions to rescue all of the people onboard.

Tragically, many of those from the Phoenix boat which was sailing nearby died or are still missing after it sank at around 5.30pm on Thursday afternoon.

Without the tour guide firm Love Andaman - which is seen in the footage saving dozens from the second sinking vessel - the death toll is likely to have been much higher.

They said: ''We heard the radio call from Serenata and prepared everything for the rescue mission.

"The closet we could get was 15 meters away as the storm was strong and hitting our boat as well. We went round twice to check wind direction and safety.

"We then found 9 people hanging on to 2 floating tubes. The team on the boat was yelling not to jump in and find safe ways to reach to floating survivors first.

"We found a spot with the wind to throw rope in the right direction and with our propeller protected to get close to the survivors. Once all 9 floating survivors made it aboard they were telling us 2 more were washed away with current and please search for them.

"There were 20 more people on the sinking boat and it seems to go down faster they decided to help sinking boat first. It was getting dark. Marine Police then came.''