A couple from Kerala’s Kollam has gone missing after a tourist boat carrying Indian passengers capsized near Vietnam’s Phu Quoc Island on Saturday.

The missing persons have been identified as A C Thomas and his wife, Lovely, residents of Kizhakkekkara near the market in Kottarakkara, police said.

The couple had left for Vietnam on a group tour on July 7. According to family members, they remained in touch until Friday morning. “I last spoke to them on Friday morning,” said Thomas’s brother, A C Varghese. “We first came to know about the accident through news reports. When we contacted the authorities there, it was confirmed that the couple was among those on board the boat that capsized,” he said.

Thomas is the owner of Victory Group, a pharmaceutical and surgical distribution company based in Kollam. 

The Indian Embassy in Hanoi also confirmed the accident and said search and rescue operations are underway. It added that local authorities are still ascertaining the exact circumstances surrounding the accident. “In a tragic incident, a boat carrying several Indian tourists has capsized near Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam,” the embassy said in a post on X.

The embassy has set up control rooms at the Embassy in Hanoi and the Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh City to assist affected families and provide information

The Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City can be contacted at +84 36 281 7930, +84 91 552 3714, or +84 33 452 0414, while the Embassy in Hanoi has issued the helpline +84 91 308 9165. The mission said the helplines will remain available to respond to queries and provide assistance.