More than 100 tourists had to be rescued on Monday (November 25) after a cruise ship crashed near a Thai island.<br /><br />The French vessel La Belle Des Oceans was sailing from Koh Lanta to Phuket when it ran aground in the early hours of Monday.<br /><br />Thai navy ship HTMS Sriracha sailed out to the cruise ship which was stuck on rocks near the Koh Phi Phi island with a damaged hull and taking onboard water.<br /><br />A fisherman who was first to arrive at the stricken vessel said that none of the passengers were injured.<br /><br />He said: "I had just left the shore when I saw the cruise ship stuck on rocks, it was in the route to my area of fishing.<br /><br />"I asked to help them but they told me that they had already contacted the navy so I checked with them that all the passengers were fine. Then I left because there was nothing more I could do."<br /><br />The navy ship arrived and dragged the cruise ship off the rocks and escorted the vessel to the nearest pier.<br /><br />Officers said that there was damage to the ship's body which the captain will be asked to explain.<br /><br />Vice Admiral Choenghai Choengchompat said: "The passengers are all safe and we will question the cruise ship captain about the crash again later."<br /><br />La Belle Des Oceans has seven decks, is 103 meters long and carries 120 passengers. It was built in 1989 and was recently bought by French cruise operator CroisiEurope. <br /><br />The ship had left Singapore last month, visiting Malaysia and Thailand and was due to sail to to India and Greece by March.
