A love-struck husband who tried to row from Thailand to India to see his wife has been rescued and arrested just 50 miles off the Thai coast after spending two weeks at sea.

Ho Hoang Hung, from Vietnam, set off from the Thai holiday island of Phuket in an inflatable rubber dinghy, equipped with water, instant noodles and no navigation system for the 1,240 mile journey across the Bay of Bengal.   

A fishing boat found the 37-year-old on Wednesday near the Similan Islands, about 50 miles off the Thai mainland, and contacted the navy's maritime security unit, which rescued him.

Ho told officials he was trying to reach his wife, who works in Mumbai, after spending two years apart because of Covid travel restrictions, Captain Pichet Songtan of the Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Centre said. 

Pichet said the man was found with no map, compass, GPS or change of clothes, and only a limited amount of water.

He had initially flown to Bangkok but found that without a visa he could not travel on to India, and so took a bus to Phuket, where he acquired the dinghy.

After setting off around March 5, Ho was apparently held up by headwinds, making limited progress in the two weeks before he was found.

Thai officials said Ho will be returned to Phuket for further questioning.

'We have contacted the Vietnamese and Indian embassy but have not had a reply yet,' Pichet said.