Tahi warship sinks: It's been 12 hours since a Thai navy warship sank in rough seas overnight in the Gulf of Thailand wherein the navy said at least 31 sailors are still in the water. According to the Thai Navy, ships and helicopters have rescued 75 sailors from the HTMS Sukhothai corvette while the search for the remaining was underway. It said that the incident happened on Sunday night due to high waves and appealed to the small boats to refrain from using sea routes.
While speaking to Thai PBS television, a rescued crew member said he had to float in the sea for nearly three hours. He said that the ship was buffeted by waves 3 meters (10 feet) high as it was sinking Sunday night, complicating rescue efforts. “The waves are still high and we cannot search for them from the horizontal line. We have to fly the helicopters and search for them from a bird’s eye view instead,” navy spokesman Adm. Pokkrong Monthatphalin told Thai PBS.
Strong winds blew seawater onto the HTMS Sukhothai and knocked out its electrical system Sunday evening, taking control of the ship difficult. The navy dispatched three frigates and two helicopters with mobile pumping machines to try to assist the disabled ship by removing the seawater but it couldn’t do so because of the strong winds.
Ship was on a regular patrol when accident happened
The loss of power allowed more seawater to flow into the vessel, causing it to list and sink. The warship had been on patrol at sea 32 kilometres (20 miles) from the pier at Bangsaphan district in Prachuap Khiri Khan province. Pokkrong said the ship had been on its regular patrol to assist any fishing boats needing help.
“Our top priority now is to rescue all the sailors. We will plan to have the ship salvaged later,” he said. The search was conducted in an area of 16 square kilometres (6.2 square miles) around the site of the sinking. While northern and central Thailand are seeing their coldest temperatures of the year, far southern Thailand has been experiencing storms and flooding in recent days. Ships were warned to stay ashore.
(With inputs from AP)
