Bangkok - Thailand's sole aircraft carrier delivered 618 foreign and Thai tourists safely to the Sattahip naval base Thursday after rescuing them from an island in the Gulf of Thailand.
The Chakri Naruebet evacuated the tourists off Tao Island, 412 kilometres south of Bangkok, in helicopters and small boats Wednesday afternoon, then shipped them overnight to Sattahip, 120 kilometres south-east of Bangkok on the mainland.
From the base, the navy arranged 18 buses to take the tourists to Bangkok.
The tourists had been stranded on the island all week due to a storm that has hit Thailand's southern provinces since the weekend.
Another 500 tourists who were reportedly stranded on Tarutao Island in the Andaman Sea were rescued by chartered speedboats, authorities said.
Thousands of foreign tourists were also stranded on Samui Island, 470 kilometres south of Bangkok, where authorities were forced to shut down the airport late Monday and halt ferry services to the mainland because of heavy rains and high seas.
Bangkok Airways and Thai Airways International resumed flights to the island Wednesday.
Floods caused by incessant downpours since the weekend have killed at least 15 people in Thailand's central southern provinces between the Gulf of Thailand in the east and the Andaman Sea in the west.
The floods have caused an estimated 7 billion baht (233 million dollars) in damage, according to the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.
The storm-struck area includes some of Thailand's most popular beach and island resorts such as Krabi province and the islands of Phuket and Samui.
Meteorologists blamed the heavy rains on a high pressure front coming down from China and La Nina, a three-to-six-year climatic phenomenon characterized by heavy rains.
The phenomenon has lowered temperatures throughout Thailand, which is coming to the end of its high season for foreign tourists.
More cold weather, heavy rains and high winds were predicted for the rest of the week, the Thail Meteorological Department said, with the rain easing and temperatures rising next week.
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