At least 6 sailors have been confirmed dead, while search and rescue continued for the 23 missing sailors more than 40 hours after a Thai
warship sank in the Gulf of Thailand, the navy said Tuesday.
The corvette HTMS Sukhothai sank at around 00:12 a.m. local time Monday (1712 GMT Sunday) during a storm with 105 crew members aboard. As of Tuesday evening, 76 people have been brought to safety, six bodies were recovered, and 23 remained missing, according to the Royal Thai Navy (RTN).
A navy-air force joint operation would continue around the clock to locate the missing sailors, with four warships and 10 aircraft on patrol, RTN chief of staff admiral Cholthis Nawanukroh told a press conference Tuesday.
"We're still hopeful to find more survivors," Cholthis said.
"Considering the wind and ocean currents, which are going toward the shores at the moment, there is still hope if we speed up the operation," he said.
On Tuesday, the navy updated the crew number at 105 from an earlier tally of 106, saying that one sailor failed to join the journey.
The accident happened when regions in southern Thailand were ravaged by storms and flooding in recent days.
The warship, which was commissioned into the RTN in 1987, was on patrol 20 nautical miles from the port in Bang Saphan district of Prachuap Khiri Khan province when strong waves caused water to enter electrical systems, which resulted in a loss of power and control for the ship, according to the navy.
The rescue team expanded the area for search and rescue, but strong winds and high waves at the sea made the work challenging, Cholthis said.
Also on Tuesday, Choengchai Chomchoengpaet, commander-in-chief of the RTN, confirmed media reports that there were no enough life jackets on board, vowing to conduct a thorough investigation into the situation.
