Bangkok, July 06 (QNA) - The death toll continues to rise in a boating accident in Thailand: Thirty-three people are dead and 23 others missing after the boat capsized near Thailand's southern island of Phuket, Phuket Governor Norapat Plodthong said on Friday.

Two boats carrying a total of 146 passengers and crew - 129 of whom were Chinese tourists - sank on Thursday near the popular tourist destination 840 kilometres south of Bangkok, Prapan Chantaseng, the head of Phuket's disaster department, said earlier Friday.

All of the tourists and crew in the second boat, a yacht, were saved. The accidents had left dozens of people stranded in the water with life vests on.  One body was found late Thursday, and the remainder on Friday. 

"More marine officers have been deployed today. We still couldn't find many of them," Somsak Soprakarn of the Phuket police told dpa early Friday.

A boat carrying Chinese tourists sank off Koh Hae, 10 kilometres south of Phuket, while a yacht carrying other Chinese nationals also sank off Koh Mai Ton, 9 kilometres south-east of Phuket, Somsak said.

Somsak said there were 90 tourists on the boat and 39 on the yacht, while the disaster management department said there were 93 tourists on the boat with 12 crew members and 39 on the yacht with two crew members.

The disaster management department said all the passengers had been saved from the yacht, meaning that all the casualties were from the boat.

Thailand is in the middle of its rainy season, with sailing often not advisable during this time.

Thailand is a popular tourist destination among the Chinese, with arrivals of 9 million Chinese tourists recorded in 2017 out of a total of 35 million tourists to Thailand in that year.(QNA)