Thais search for missing as 15 die in pilgrim boat accident

Divers located the body of a young boy on Monday as they resumed their search for missing passengers after an overcrowded boat carrying Muslim pilgrims sank on Thailand's Chao Phraya river, leaving at least 15 people dead.

The accident happened on Sunday afternoon near the ancient city of Ayutthaya, a popular tourist attraction, when a boat packed with pilgrims returning from a mosque hit a concrete bank in strong currents.

Scores of people lined the bank on Monday morning as divers plunged into the swollen, brown waters for the grim task of searching the partially-submerged pleasure boat for the missing.

Distraught relatives wept as the body of an eight-year-old boy was pulled from the wreckage and laid in a white plastic sheet, an AFP team on site reported.

Rescuers used a white board to keep track of those still missing which by lunchtime stood at 13 named individuals, six of whom were children.

Ayutthaya deputy governor Rewat Prasong said the confirmed death toll stood at 15 with 14 people hospitalised. The dead were not thought to include any foreigners.

The boat's captain is in custody and faces a negligence charge after allowing the double-decked vessel to become overcrowded, police told AFP.

"The boat has permission to carry about 50 people but it was carrying more than 100 people," said Ayutthaya police chief Sudhi Puengpikul.

Disaster struck as the boat returned from a memorial for a Muslim scholar at an Ayutthaya mosque. 

Television footage showed the boat stopping abruptly as it appeared to hit the concrete bank, and sinking in seconds.

Thai broadcasters showed desperate scenes of the aftermath of the accident as passengers were pulled from the water while rescuers attempted to resuscitate stricken people.