Love-sick Vietnamese man tries to row inflatable from Phuket to India to see his wife (video)

Post by **Clutch Cargo** » Tue Mar 29, 2022 3:22 pm

A love-struck husband who tried to row from Thailand to India to see his wife has been rescued and arrested just 50 miles off the Thai coast after spending two weeks at sea.

Ho Hoang Hung, from Vietnam, set off from the Thai holiday island of Phuket in an inflatable rubber dinghy, equipped with water, instant noodles and no navigation system for the 1,240 mile journey across the Bay of Bengal.

A fishing boat found the 37-year-old on Wednesday near the Similan Islands, about 50 miles off the Thai mainland, and contacted the navy's maritime security unit, which rescued him.

Ho told officials he was trying to reach his wife, who works in Mumbai, after spending two years apart because of Covid travel restrictions, Captain Pichet Songtan of the Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Centre said.

Pichet said the man was found with no map, compass, GPS or change of clothes, and only a limited amount of water.

He had initially flown to Bangkok but found that without a visa he could not travel on to India, and so took a bus to Phuket, where he acquired the dinghy.

After setting off around March 5, Ho was apparently held up by headwinds, making limited progress in the two weeks before he was found.

Thai officials said Ho will be returned to Phuket for further questioning.

'We have contacted the Vietnamese and Indian embassy but have not had a reply yet,' Pichet said.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -wife.html

Pseudonomdeplume · Post by **Pseudonomdeplume** » Tue Mar 29, 2022 3:39 pm

I am trying to get into Thailand from Mumbai. I suppose you will be sending me back.

Doc67 · Post by **Doc67** » Thu Mar 31, 2022 1:16 pm

I wonder if India will give him a visa on compassionate grounds.

ExPenhMan · Post by **ExPenhMan** » Thu Mar 31, 2022 1:41 pm

Ahem, updated story. Could have been a scam with he the victim.

Headline: Vietnamese man who tried to paddle to India fell victim to romance scam

The Vietnamese man who tried to paddle an inflatable boat from Thailand to India to meet his “wife” was either scammed or “catfished,” where someone uses a fake profile online to deceive another person for money or personal reasons.

International media outlets picked up the story of the 37 year old Vietnamese man who spent 18 days at sea on a quest to meet his love in person. But once the man shared a photo of his wife to Thai media, people quickly recognised the woman in the photo. She was Indian TV actress Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya who has been married since 2016.

It’s unclear if the person behind the fake Facebook was scamming the man for financial gain, or if they were just deceiving him for personal reasons. According to reports in Thai media, the man claimed he met the woman in person back in 2019 while he was in India and that she shared her Facebook account with him. He said they didn’t talk for two years, and he decided to paddle to India to see her.

The 37 year old man spent 18 days in an inflatable boat, only making it 80 kilometres of the 2,500-kilometre journey before the navy rescued him. He had no map, compass, or GPS to navigate him.

The man suffered from exhaustion and was sent to a hospital for treatment. The official site of the Royal Thai Navy shared that the Vietnamese man has travelled back to Vietnam by a speedboat.

https://thethaiger.com/news/national/vi ... mance-scam

Bongmab69 · Post by **Bongmab69** » Thu Mar 31, 2022 1:53 pm

I am sure he will find in Phuket a new facebook-girlfriend without paddling far away !!