Thai warship capsizes in rough seas, leaving dozens missing | 24CA News
Thai navy ships and helicopters have been looking on Monday for greater than two dozen sailors nonetheless lacking greater than 12 hours after a warship sank in tough seas in a single day within the Gulf of Thailand.
As of midday, 75 sailors from the HTMS Sukhothai corvette had been rescued and 31 have been nonetheless within the water, the navy stated. The excessive waves that brought about the accident had lessened since Sunday evening’s sinking, however have been nonetheless excessive sufficient to hazard small boats, the navy introduced.
A rescued crew member interviewed by Thai PBS tv stated he needed to float within the sea for 3 hours earlier than he was rescued. He stated that the ship was buffeted by waves three metres excessive because it was sinking Sunday evening, 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 instructed Thai PBS.
Strong winds blew seawater onto the HTMS Sukhothai and knocked out its electrical system Sunday night, making management of the ship troublesome. The navy dispatched three frigates and two helicopters with cell pumping machines to attempt to help the disabled ship by eradicating the seawater nevertheless it could not accomplish that due to the robust winds.
Ships warned to remain ashore
The lack of energy allowed extra seawater to move into the vessel, inflicting it to listing and sink.
The warship had been on patrol at sea 32 kilometres from the pier at Bangsaphan district in Prachuap Khiri Khan province. Pokkrong stated the ship had been on its common patrol to help any fishing boats needing assist.
“Our top priority now is to rescue all the sailors. We will plan to have the ship salvaged later,” he stated. The search was being carried out in an space of 16 sq. kilometres across the web site of the sinking.
While northern and central Thailand are seeing their coldest temperatures of the yr, far southern Thailand has been experiencing storms and flooding in latest days. Ships have been warned to remain ashore.
