Flash flood claims 6 tourists in Thai cave

Six foreign tourists, including a German national, and their two Thai guides were killed when a flash flood trapped them in a cave in southern Thailand, officials said on Sunday.

Seven holiday makers were trekking with their guides on Saturday in Kao Sok National Park in Surat Thani, 644 km south of Bangkok, when heavy rain caused a stream in the overground cave to rise suddenly. The bodies of all but one from the group have been pulled from the water, district official Sitichai Thaicharoen said, and the authorities were still trying to identify the nationalities of those who drowned. “The bodies of two Thai guides and six foreign tourists, including a German boy, were found,” Sitichai told AFP. He said a German woman had told authorities that her son was in the group.

A rescue team was still searching for the missing tourist, he added.