31 sailors missing as Thai warship sinks

The warship before sinking in the Gulf of Thailand, on Sunday. Pic/AFP

Thai navy ships and helicopters searched on Monday for more than 30 sailors still missing more than 17 hours after their warship sank in rough seas in the Gulf of Thailand.

As of Monday afternoon, 75 sailors from the HTMS Sukhothai corvette had been rescued and 31 were still missing, the navy said. The high waves that caused the accident had lessened since Sunday night's sinking, but were still high enough to endanger small boats, the navy said.

A rescued crew member interviewed by Thai PBS television said he had to float in the sea for three hours before he was rescued. He said the ship was buffeted by waves 3 metres (10 feet) high as it was sinking on Sunday night, complicating rescue efforts.

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"The waves are still high and we cannot search for them from the horizontal line. We have to fly the helicopters and search for them from a bird's eye view instead," navy spokesman Adm. Pokkrong Monthatphalin told Thai PBS.

Eleven of the rescued sailors were being treated in a hospital. The navy denied a local media report that one death had been confirmed, saying the fatality was from an accident involving another boat.

75
No. of sailors rescued till Monday afternoon

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