Full video of the boat that sank near Pak Ou Caves in Luang Prabang

On December 18, 2025, a slowboat from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang hit underwater rocks near Pak Ou Caves, known locally in Lao as Tum Ting.  From that point it began to slowly take on water and eventually broke in half and sank. 

Here's the full video.

Source:  K9P Channel, posted on December 23, 2025

The Youtuber named Kop, who himself is a well-known Lao musician-turned-Youtuber happened to be on this boat ride during the incident and documented what happened.  He shares the situation in detail, as well as, his heartfelt personal thoughts.

The video hasn't quite caught on amongst English speakers or English language news outlets in part because in the video he speaks Lao language (though note that the text he uses is Thai, not Lao).

The video does jump around a bit as he was likely recording and pausing in between as events were unfolding.  His narration explains some of what wasn't captured as well.

Time Index Descriptions

In the video, we see at time index:

• 08:06 - Clip showing the reaction by the initial boat impact whereby passengers can be seen getting up out of their seats and fellow passengers and staff asking everyone to sit back down.
• 08:24 - Clip showing that water begins to enter the main seating part of the boat with water at shoe level.  Passengers are mostly standing and showing heighten levels of concern with a combination of people standing and trying to alert staff.  Kop indicates that he went and retrieved his belongings.
• 08:35 - Clip showing passengers transferring over to the rescue boat.
• 08:45 - Clip showing that half that boat is now submerged under water with a handful of passengers inside the boat and on the roof continuing to make their way onto the rescue boat.  In his narration, Kop confesses that everyone was afraid to die.  Eventually there are but a few passengers left on the roof of the sinking boat.  Smaller boats are seen taking some passengers as well.
• 09:31 - Clip showing 2 passengers having to swim to the large rescue boat.
• 09:43 - Clip showing Kop and the other passengers on the rescue boat.  However, as Kop explains, the captain reports this boat too is taking on water and decides to deboard all passengers safely onto the shore.
• 10:05 - Clip showing passengers walking on the shore.  Kop's narration discusses the shock that people are still feeling with experiencing a near death situation.  He also reflects and wonders on what happened to the mother and two children.
• 11:47 - Clip showing yet another rescue boat taking passengers away.
• 11:54 - Clip showing Kop's personal reflection on the day's event while sitting at his friend's place in Luang Prabang.

He discusses when the officials tried to account for people, some passengers had tickets and were from the original onboarding in Huay Xai.  These passengers had tickets and names noted.  While others who joined the boat at the stop in Pak Beng or further along enroute, did not have tickets and names recorded when they boarded, as people typically pay and board easily for quick return trips to Luang Prabang.

He also shared that once back in Luang Prabang, passengers were required to sign their names for record purposes and to confirm that they arrived in Luang Prabang.  Something that is not typically done.

Kop acknowledges that they were in some ways lucky that the incident happened near Tum Ting, as it's a well-known tourist destination with lot of boats traveling up and down the Mekong River in that vicinity.  Had the incident happened further north where there are no cell signal and less boats around to help, Kop believes there would have likely been more casualties.

In the end, Kop came away with just broken glasses.  He notes however that he cares nothing for the glasses but rather people's lives and how this event has affected people.

Afterword

Outside of this video clip, at the time of this writing, it has been reported on:

• December 22 the body of Mrs. Pany Her was found further down stream only a short distance from where the sinking happened.
• December 23 the body of her three year old daughter was found near Tum Ting.
• December 25 the third and final body, her one year old child was found further downstream near Nan district.

The names of the children have not been released.

Retrieval efforts for people's belongings also continued that same week.

Official investigators have also shared that they believe that the cautionary marine markers may have been damaged and affected the captain's ability to assess the safe passage area of the river.  As well, that the weight of the boat may have been too much and in essence, brought it into closer contact with underwater rocks.

Furthermore, in a subsequent clip on Kop's Youtube channel, Kop is seen meeting up with Athonin, a traveler originally from France.  Athonin shares that he got his passport and backpack returned to him.  He states that at least 30 other passengers have had their belongings retrieved from the sunken boat and returned to them on December 19  and 20, respectively.

- Laoconnection.com (last updated January 2 2026)