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A Vietnamese man has been rescued from an inflatable boat, 80km off the Thai province of Phang Nga, the Bangkok Post reported.

37-year-old Ho Hoang Hung had been attempting to row 2,000km to India to see his wife in Mumbai.

According to Ho, they married two years ago but were separated by the pandemic.

Found with only a nearly empty bottle of water, instant noodles and suitcase on his boat

Ho was discovered by a fishing boat who saw him paddling about 14km off the Similan Islands and contacted the Thai navy's maritime security unit, The Guardian reported.

When the navy arrived to rescue him, they found that he only had a nearly-empty water bottle, 10 packets of instant noodles and a suitcase.

He did not have a change of clothes, compass or GPS.

Decided to make the trip by boat after he was unable to obtain a visa for India

Ho said that he had arrived in Bangkok on March 2 from Ho Chi Minh city.

At that time, he had planned to take another flight to India but could not obtain a visa.

Ho took a bus to Phuket, where he bought the inflatable boat and set off on March 5.

He spent 18 nights at sea, making limited progress as headwinds supposedly held him up.

Ho has been taken in by Thai authorities for questioning.

A captain from the Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Centre said they had contacted the embassies of both Vietnam and India about the matter but had yet to receive a reply.

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Top photo via Royal Thai Navy Facebook