Thai Navy ship sinks in Gulf of Thailand, leaves over 100 sailors stranded

Image source: AP

A heart wrenching incident took place on the evening of December 18, where a Thai Navy ship sunk during a storm in the Gulf of Thailand. The Thai Navy ship capsized during a storm in the Gulf of Thailand, leaving more than 100 sailors stranded, authorities said today (December 19). The authorities said that although there were no fatalities, there were still 28 of the 106 crew "in the water" waiting to be rescued, the BBC reported citing the Royal Thai Navy as saying. Of the 28, three were in critical condition, it added. The HTMS Sukhothai had been on a patrol in waters just 32 km off the coast of Bang Saphan district, in the Prachuap Khiri Khan province, when it got caught in the storm on Sunday (December 18) at around 11:30 pm.

The Royal Thai 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.

The loss of power allowed more seawater to flow into the vessel, causing it to list and sink. It occurred while the warship was on patrol at sea 32 kilometres (20 miles) from the pier at Bangsaphan district in Prachuap Khiri Khan province.

The frigate rescued 78 of the 106 sailors on board the Sukhotai, it added. Authorities said the search continued through the night to find all the crew. 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.

(With agency inputs)