Laos ferry disaster: Screams for help and panic as tourists rescued from fatal sinking

It was supposed to be just another Thursday in Laos, where Anthonin’s father was born.

Instead, the 30-year-old French citizen found himself among more than 140 people, mostly tourists, on a ferry that capsized in the Mekong River. All but three are thought to have made it to safety.

Videos online show a scene of chaos – people screaming for help, children crying and passengers scrambling to get their belongings.

Anthonin, who declined to give his full name, recalls seeing a mother and her two children on board the ferry – but they were nowhere to be seen on the rescue boat.

On Monday, Lao media reported that the body of a woman, named Pany Her, had been retrieved from the river. Rescuers then found the body of a one-year-old, who they believe was one of her children. Efforts to find a second child are continuing.

The boat was making its way last Thursday from the riverside town of Huay Xay to the historic city of Luang Prabang in northern Laos, a common route along the Mekong – and popular with visitors to the country.

There were 118 tourists and 29 locals, including four crew, on board the boat when it struck underwater rocks, according to an official report carried by the Laotian Times.

Within minutes, the ferry began to sink.

“The [crew] were just totally unprepared for that. There was a lot of confusion… it happened really, really fast,” Anthonin said.

“What was, you know, puzzling and alarming is that there were very few life jackets, around like, 15 life jackets maximum… [it] was really bad.”

As the boat continued to capsize, passengers shouted to a passing boat for help, but it did not stop – possibly because, according to him, it was relatively small.

The second one, however, did stop and take them in. However, according to British tourist Bradley Cook, another passenger on board, that briefly “made it worse”.

The 27-year-old told the BBC that as the rescue boat came closer to their ferry, people started to shift and put weight on one side of the ferry, causing water to fill up the hull even quicker.

Mr Cook went to the other side to climb up on the roof, from where he jumped onto the rescue ferry.

Some people managed to climb over to the ferry, while others swam for it, hung onto the rails and got pulled up by others. Both Anthonin and Mr Cook were among those rescued.

But others were less fortunate.

Anthonin says he was helping some other passengers retrieve their luggage at the back of the sinking ferry when he saw a Lao mother and her two children.

However, when he was on the rescue ferry, he realised they weren’t there.

“Some people were crying, panicking. It was a mess,” he said. “[But] I didn’t fear for my life… I was more affected by the three missing people.”

Lao media later reported that the body of the Lao woman Pany Her and a one-year-old child were found, separately, near Luang Prabang.

Another passenger, Gabrielius Baranovičius, 19, told the BBC that he and his friend, both of whom are from Lithuania, did not panic at first.

“We were just joking around,” Mr Baranovičius said, adding that his attitude quickly changed when he realised they were sinking.

After getting on the rescue boat, Mr Baranovičius said he starting filming what was happening on board “but then I heard other people screaming so [I] turned off the camera and went straight to help other people in the water get on the boat.”

Tens of thousands of tourists use slow boat and speedboat services every year along the 300km (185-mile) route connecting Huay Xay, Pak Beng and Luang Prabang, according to the Mekong River Commission.

For Mr Cook, the experience was “terrifying” and it made him want to get out of Luang Prabang, “although everyone’s really friendly here”, because it was a constant reminder of his narrow escape.

Speaking to the BBC from Vang Vieng, a town in northern Laos, Mr Cook said he planned to file for insurance claims for his electrical items that were broken and for cash that was lost, though he was not sure who would be held responsible.

“I’m assuming it’s just a freak accident,” he said, though he added he “was not sure how avoidable” the ferry capsizing was.

It’s not the first time such a sinking has occurred in Laos.

In September 2023, a passenger boat, which travelled on the same river corridor between Huay Xai and Luang Prabang, capsized in the Mekong in Pakbeng district, resulting in three deaths.

The boat reportedly became entangled in a fishing net, causing loss of control and the vessel overturning in strong currents.