Thai warships and helicopters had been working to rescue 31 missing sailors after a navy ship sank in the Gulf of Thailand, the Royal Thai
Navy (RTN) said on Monday.
A total of 106 crew were on board the corvette HTMS Sukhothai, which sank at around 00:12 a.m. local time Monday (1712 GMT Sunday) during a storm. As of Monday afternoon, 75 of them had been brought to safety, according to the RTN statement posted on its Twitter account.
Eleven of the rescued crew members were being treated in a local hospital, according to the statement.
The navy denied local media reports that one death had been confirmed, saying the fatality was from another accident involving a cargo boat.
The HTMS Sukhothai sank after a loss of power and consequently flooding of the ship, RTN spokesperson admiral Pokkrong Monthatpalin said.
The warship 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 the electrical systems, which resulted in a loss of power and control for the ship.
The RTN has dispatched three frigates and two helicopters with rescue equipment to the scene, but strong winds and waves prevented rescue efforts, according to the statement.
The navy later said the search and rescue continued apace over an area measuring around 20 miles by 15 miles, concentrating on a section of sea roughly 18 miles south of the sunken spot.
Photos and video clips shared by the navy on its Twitter account showed men wrapped in blankets following their rescue. Some of them were airlifted to a hospital in Chonburi province while those uninjured would be taken back to a navy base.
Local media cited Royal Thai Air Force spokesperson Air Vice-Marshal Prapas Sornjaidee as saying that the air force also joined the search and rescue effort Monday, dispatching aircraft equipped with thermal imaging cameras.
