It was supposed to be just another Thursday in Laos, where Anthonin Levelu's father was born.
Instead, the 30-year-old French citizen found himself among more than 140 people, mostly tourists, on a ferry that capsized in the Mekong River. All but three are thought to have made it to safety.
Videos online show a scene of chaos - people screaming for help, children crying, and passengers scrambling to get their belongings.
Mr Levelu recalls seeing a mother and her two children on board the ferry - but they were nowhere to be seen on the rescue boat.
On Monday, Lao media reported that they had found the body of a woman, named Pany Her. Rescuers are still looking for her two children.
The boat was making its way last Thursday from Huay Xay to the historic city of Luang Prabang in northern Laos, a common route along the Mekong - and popular with visitors to the country.
There were 118 tourists and 29 locals, including four crew, on board when it struck underwater rocks, according to an official report carried by the Laotian Times.
Within minutes, the ferry began to sink.
The [crew] were just totally unprepared for that. There was a lot of confusion... it happened really, really fast, Mr Levelu said.
What was, you know, puzzling and alarming is that there were very few life jackets, around like, 15 life jackets maximum... [it] was really bad.
As the boat continued to capsize, passengers shouted to a passing boat for help, but it did not stop. The second passing boat, however, did respond, leading to a complicated rescue effort.
Some managed to scramble to safety, while others faced the dire choice of swimming to a rescue boat or holding on for dear life as the ferry sank.
Amidst the chaos, the reported deaths and missing persons have raised serious questions about safety standards and emergency preparedness in tourist ferry operations in Laos.
This disaster is not unprecedented; similar incidents have previously led to fatalities on the Mekong River, underscoring a critical need for reevaluation of safety measures in the region.
