A Thai captain and his crew were one of the first to the scene of the capsizing. They ended up saving the lives of 20 people. He's now shared the details of how the rescue operation took place.

Yannaphat is the manager of the Phuket-based yacht club known as "Love Andaman". He was conducting routine maintenance of the yachts when he heard of the accident.

YANNAPHAT, MANAGER YACHT CLUB LOVE ANDAMAN "I was on the bank when I heard that there was a boat sinking at sea where some people had fallen into the water. I called my crew, examined the security status of the yacht and quickly set off."

The yacht carrying Yannaphat and 11 seamen was the first boat to arrive at the scene. Yannaphat found that the boat Serenita was sinking and its stern was already submerged in the water. Though many passengers were trapped, Yannaphat's boat could not approach due to rough seas. When he was sailing around Serenita, he found 11 passengers floating in the water.

YANNAPHAT, MANAGER YACHT CLUB LOVE ANDAMAN "We found them all wearing life vests and tightly holding life rings. They were exhausted because the waves had been flapping them around. Obviously, they needed more life rings, so we immediately started to rescue them because I knew there was little time. Once they are dispersed by the water or lose grip of a life ring, it would be difficult for us to save them and there would be little possibility of survival."

Yannaphat and his crew managed to rescue nine people while the two others were rescued by another boat. Then he parked his yacht near the nose of the Serenita and asked his seamen to swim to the sinking boat and help those passengers on board with the raft on it.

YANNAPHAT, MANAGER YACHT CLUB LOVE ANDAMAN "Four young men swam to the stern of that boat, helped passengers on board to move to the rounded raft, and went back to our yacht. We conducted four rounds in all."

This time Yannaphat and his crew successfully rescued 11 passengers. The whole rescue of the 20 people took two hours. Yannaphat said though these Chinese passengers could not communicate with them, they expressed their thanks through gestures and hugging. DSY, CGTN.