The Royal Thai Navy stated Monday that search and rescue personnel had been nonetheless making an attempt to save lots of 31 sailors who had been thrown into the Gulf of Thailand in a single day when a naval ship sank after being instantly flooded with water and dropping energy.
In a sequence of posts on Facebook and Twitter, naval officers stated that the ship, generally known as the HTMS Sukhothai, had been on patrol about 20 miles from a port in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province when gusty winds and powerful waves induced the ship’s hull to tilt.
Because the 35-year-old boat swayed, officers stated, some seawater flowed into {the electrical} system by means of an exhaust pipe, inflicting an influence outage that rendered the ship’s equipment and steering mechanisms ineffective. Because the crew misplaced management of the ship, officers stated, extra water quickly crammed the hull, inflicting the HTMS Sukhothai to tilt additional.
The crew known as for assist, and the Royal Navy dispatched different boats and helicopters to the scene. However the HTMS Sukhothai sank simply after midnight, officers stated. By about 1 a.m., helicopters had arrived and launched rescue rafts, a Thai Navy spokesman stated, including that greater than 70 of the 106 crew members had been secured.
As of about 10 a.m. native time on Monday, the spokesman, Admiral Pokkrong Monthatpalin, stated that the authorities had been nonetheless making an attempt to rescue 31 naval officers.
In a phone interview with The New York Instances, Adm. Monthatpalin stated that the darkish of evening had made it tough to find out whether or not each officer had made it to a ship throughout early rescue efforts. However he stated that the entire officers, together with these nonetheless within the water, ought to have been carrying a life vest.
“Our essential precedence now’s to look and rescue our fellow boatmen,” Mr. Monthatpalin stated. “All of them.”
A lot of the greater than 70 individuals who the spokesman stated had been rescued as of Monday morning had been taken to a close-by port, officers stated; some had been taken to a hospital for remedy; others had been taken to a shelter.
The HTMS Sukhothai was out on regular patrol obligation to watch potential climate hazards. As soon as all 31 sailors have been rescued, the navy will set about making an attempt to rescue the ship itself, Adm. Monthatpalin stated. “We’ve to be actually cautious as a result of there’s gasoline within the ship,” he added. “We don’t wish to have an oil spill. We’ve to be actually cautious about that.”
