Death Toll From Sinking Of Thai Navy Ship Climbs To 18: The Thai navy announced on Sunday that 18 people had perished as a result of the sinking of one of its warships earlier in the week.
Numerous members of the crew of the HTMS Sukhothai are still missing after the ship sank in rough seas in the Gulf of Thailand early on Monday.
According to a Sunday report from the Royal Thai Navy, 11 officers are still missing. 76 people have been saved out of the 105 that were on board the ship at the time of the accident.
Adm. Cherngchai Chomcherngpat, the head of the Royal Thai Navy, stated on Tuesday that there were not enough life jackets for everyone on board the ship since it was carrying 30 more passengers than typical at the time of its sinking.
According to Cherngchai, the extra officers were on board because the ship was participating in an homage to the father of the Thai navy. The lack of life jackets for 30 more policemen was a problem the crew was “well aware of. When the officers without life jackets sought to try other methods to save their lives, Cherngchai continued.
Inflatable rafts, some of which were kept on board the HTMS Sukhothai and some of which were dropped by rescue helicopters and other ships, were used by some of the people without life jackets to try and escape.
The odds of survival are the same whether a life jacket is worn or not, the admiral said.
According to a statement from the Royal Thai Navy, 33 crew members are still unaccounted for from the HTMS Sukhothai, a ship belonging to that service, which sank early on Monday in the Gulf of Thailand.
According to the statement, 33 crew members are still at sea and being searched for by ships near the scene of the event.
The Navy had stated that 28 crew members were missing. As search and rescue efforts continue into Monday, that number rose to 33.
At 12:12 a.m. local time on Monday, the HTMS Sukhothai capsized in the Gulf of Thailand about 20 miles (32 km) off the coast of Bang Saphan District in Prachuap Province.
Search and rescue operations are made more difficult by the region’s persistently bad weather.
from CNN’s Teele Rebane in Hong Kong and Kocha Olarn in Bangkok
According to a tweet from the Royal Thai Navy, the ship HTMS Sukhothai of that service sank at 11:30 p.m. local time on Sunday, leaving three crew members in severe condition.
According to the Navy, of the 106 crew members on board, 78 have been saved, 28 are still in the sea, and 3 are in critical condition.
About 20 miles (32 km) from Bang Saphan District in Prachuap Province, the HTMS Sukhothai capsized in the Gulf of Thailand. The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) said that despite its best efforts, the emergency situation couldn’t be resolved because of the heavy wind.
The HTMS Sukhothai tilted due to heavy winds earlier on Sunday, and the ship’s electrical system stopped down as a result, according to a Navy tweet.
Rescue efforts will go on into Monday.
He said that the ship sank after seawater got inside and shut down its electrical systems.
At the time, the water’s temperature was about 29 degrees Celsius, and waves were between three and four meters (10 to thirteen feet) high (84 degrees Fahrenheit).
Around 8:45 p.m. on Sunday, the 252-foot (76.8-meter) long warship’s forward section was breached by water, according to Cherngchai.
For more than three hours, the flooding persisted, finally crippling the ship’s electrical and propulsion systems and ending efforts to pump it out.
Rescue helicopter personnel attempted to lower the water pumps to the ship, but their attempts were unsuccessful since the ship started to lean sharply.
The admiral rejected the idea that the nearly 40-year-old ship might not have been in good enough condition to manage the rough seas by pointing out that it had just undergone many upgrades.
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