A group of British teenagers claim they were left for dead on an island infested with snakes after paying for a snorkeling trip in Thailand.

Emily Ince, 19, from Preston, Lancashire, was on a dream holiday to the Southeast Asian country with 17 friends when they were approached by three men offering a snorkeling tour in the seaside resort of Hua Hin, south of Bangkok.

But the student claims after she and her pals joined the tour — paying £20 ($26) each — they were told to jump out of the speedboat 32 feet from an island.

They claim they were then told to swim to shore before the men threw just two snorkeling masks into the water for the group and advised them to “stay away from the snakes.”

Ince said she and her friends were forced to swim in the jellyfish-infested sea to the island, which was swarming with potentially venomous snakes.

After being left without food, water or sunscreen for three hours, the friends were eventually rescued after enlisting the help of a local fisherman.

Ince said: “Whilst we were at the beach, three Thai men told us they sold snorkeling trips.

“Being gullible, we said ‘yeah, OK’ because it was about 700 baht each — around £18 ($23) to £20 ($26) — so we thought it was a good deal.

“I was in the first group and we were really excited, but as we came close to the island, they stopped the boat about 32 feet away and made us swim from the boat to the island.”

‘Stay away from the snakes’

“When we eventually got on the island, the three men just chucked us two snorkeling masks, which looked like they were from Poundland (a discount UK chain) or something, and advised we keep away from the snakes.

“Understandably we were confused and a bit concerned about that, and then my friend got stung by a jellyfish whilst swimming over because the waters were infested with them.

“We were terrified when he mentioned the snakes. I was genuinely concerned we were going to be trafficked or something.”

Ince said one of the members of their group even said she felt like they were on “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.”

The island the group were stranded on was so secluded it’s not even on the map.

The group were in Thailand in June but are just telling the story now after Ince’s tweet about their experience went viral.

Ince said: “We were there for hours; in the end, we saw a fisherman and he helped us contact the people who worked on the beach.

“It took a lot of effort and persuasion but the three men came and got us and the journey back to Thailand was very quiet because everyone was so angry.

“The icing on the cake was they refused to refund us — which we half expected.”