31 Sailors Missing After Thailand Warship Capsizes

On Sunday, a Thai Navy warship, the flagship HTMS Sukhothai, encountered strong waves and high winds and subsequently sank. As of Monday, many sailors were still missing.

The Thai Navy has reported that 75 sailors have been rescued from the HTMS Sukhothai corvette by ships and helicopters, and the search for the remaining sailors is ongoing.

On Sunday night, the HTMS Sukhothai experienced flooding in its power controls, causing the crew to lose control of the ship. They struggled to keep the ship upright, but it eventually listed to one side and sank at around 23:30 local time on Sunday (16:30 GMT).

The Thai Navy shared images on Twitter of some of the crew who had survived and were in a life raft. Many of the rescued crew members were wrapped in blankets and receiving treatment, and some were being airlifted to the hospital.

In response to the sinking of the HTMS Sukhothai, the Thai Navy launched a rescue mission using three ships and two helicopters. The HTMS Kraburi reached the Sukhothai before it sank at around 11:30pm. Initially, the navy stated that all crew members were considered safe, but in a later statement on Facebook, they announced that 31 people were still missing and awaiting rescue in the water as of Monday morning.

The HTMS Sukhothai warship was on patrol at sea, approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) from the pier in the Bangsaphan district of Prachuap Khiri Khan province.

“Our top priority now is to rescue all the sailors. We will plan to have the ship salvaged later,” said the Navy spokesperson Adm. Pokkrong Monthatphalin

This is the first time a Thai warship has sunk since World War II, when the HTMS Samui was torpedoed by an American submarine near Malaysia, resulting in the deaths of 31 sailors.

Do You Know Thailand Navy has the smallest Aircraft Carrier In The World: HTMS Chakri Naruebet!

The HTMS Sukhothai was constructed for the Thai Navy in the United States in the mid-1980s.