Thread by @ThaiEnquirer

4 missing sailors from the sunken HTMS Sukhothai were found dead at sea, Navy commander Adm Choengchai Chomchoengpaet confirmed.

2 other crew members were safely rescued.

#Thailand #เรือหลวงสุโขทัย

The sunken corvette was in service for 36 years and it was supposed to be in service until 40 years.

Since everything on the ship was still functioning normally, the plan was to extend the service period of the ship by another 5-10 years before it sank, Adm Choengchai said.

The ship also ship received major maintenance works over the past 2-3 years in preparation for operation in the Andaman Sea.

The night that it sank, Dec 18, it was patrolling off Prachuap Khiri Khan when it was pounded by a series of high waves, up to 3-4 meters due to monsoon.

The ship took in a lot of water, beginning from the front of the ship, which led to electric failures.

Crew members were trying to get rid of the water but to no avail and eventually, the main and backup engines failed and more water started flooding in.

With more water rushing in, the ship started to list by 60 degrees and while it was being rescued by another ship, HTMS Kraburi, the ship started to sink from the stern.

Some of the sailors who were left without lifejackets during the commotion were put on the lifeboats first.

Initially, 75 crew members were rescued and 30 were missing.

Following the initial search, HTMS Kraburi was unable to find the missing crews before it decided to bring severely injured sailors back to shore first as some of their injuries were life-threatening.

More rescue ships arrived in the morning on December 19 and the 24-search for the missing crews has been ongoing since then until now.

24 crew members are still missing.

Adm Chonlathit Nawanukhro, the navy's chief of staff, said the waves were still around 4 meters on December 19 which means only large vessels were able to conduct the search before the first missing crew member was found 5.7 nautical miles from the sunken ship.

Helicopters and drones were also used to find the missing crews in 11 search zones before another sailor was found alive around 15:00, 32 nautical miles away from the sunken ship.

There is still hope that the remaining missing crews are still alive, Adm Chonlathit said.

Adm Chonlathit also said thank you to allies that have offered help including the US, UK and Malaysia.

Adm Choengchai said the investigation into the causes of the sunken ship and the naval procedures that were undertaken to find out what went wrong is ongoing.

Adm Choengchai said the results of the investigation will be provided later.

Since there were no digital records or a black box as the ship was in service for more than 30 years, the investigation will be mainly based on interviews with related staff, he said.

Adm Choengchai said the search and rescue operation will continue because a survivor was found 41 hours after the ship sank.

He said since the survivor was found 32 nautical miles to the south of the sunken ship so the rescue operation has been expanded in that direction.

All 6 members of the missing crew who were found were wearing a lifejacket.

Adm Choengchai said the search and rescue operation will continue because there is still hope that they can find more survivors.