An American tourist reportedly vanished Thursday in Thailand while jet skiing along a beach near Phuket.
Nina Ng, 37, was reported missing to authorities after she failed to return past her allotted rental time, jet ski rental operator Saranuwat Nasok told Asia Pacific Press.
“I found the jet ski parked under a kilometer from the beach. Her belongings and life jacket were on it. I called my friends for help, and we searched for around an hour but we still couldn’t find her,” Nasok said.
Ng, who was born and raised in New York City, is a Chinese-American nurse and the founder and president of Help Me Live USA, an organization that provides humanitarian relief to people in conflict zones such as the Gaza Strip, its website says. On an Instagram account purportedly belonging to Ng, she recently posted images taken from Lebanon and Jordan.
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The reason for Ng’s reported disappearance near Patong Beach is unclear.
“I asked a boat driver working in the area, and he said he saw the tourist take off her life jacket to jump into the water,” Nasok told Asia Pacific Press.
Video taken at the scene purportedly showed first responders gathering at the beach to search for Ng.
Both Help Me Live USA and the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond Thursday to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.
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Local authorities said the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok has been alerted to Ng’s disappearance, according to Asia Pacific Press.
Ng “has served as an emergency medicine registered nurse, hospital administrator, and humanitarian leader for over 15 years,” Help Me Live USA said, adding that “she has worked in numerous conflict settings and war zones including Haiti, Iraq, Bangladesh, Mexico, Ukraine, Sierra Leone, and Gaza.”
“Several years ago, Ms. Ng left the hospital setting in the United States in order to dedicate more of her time to humanitarian aid. Her calling to help underserved populations has been so strong that she founded her own non-profit organization, Help Me Live USA, in 2023,” it added.
“Nina is currently a nomad who lives in different parts of the globe in between work assignments,” the organization also said. “She has a great love for children, nature, and animals.”
