Thailand Launches Rescue Operation For 33 Missing Marines After Warship Sinks

The Thailand military is trying to locate 33 marines, who went missing after a corvette suffered an engine malfunction and sank just before midnight in choppy waters in the Gulf of Thailand

New Delhi: The Thailand military is trying to locate 33 marines, who went missing after a corvette sank overnight in choppy waters in the Gulf of Thailand, the navy said. The overnight rescue mission was launched under bad weather conditions that went on to rescue 73 of the 106 people aboard, the navy said, with the remaining 33 forced to abandon ship.

The military has deployed three navy vessels and two helicopters to find those missing off Prachuap Khiri Khan province, south of Bangkok, reported news agency Reuters. The HTMS Sukhothai warship suffered an engine malfunction and sank just before midnight about 20 nautical miles off the coast.

The military has deployed warships and helicopters to search for the missing personnel. The navy also shared images and video footage on its Twitter account that showed a group of personnel in orange vests in a black inflatable raft moving away from a ship in darkness as waves swelled around it. However, the number of rafts deployed was not clear.

The incident took place as the US-built corvette Sukhothai, which was in use since 1987, was hit by strong waves on Sunday, forcing it to tilt to one side before becoming flooded with seawater, according to the navy spokesperson Admiral Pogkrong Monthardpalin as quoted in the report.

A picture shared by the Navy on the microblogging site Twitter showed the grey vessel flipped over onto its side, while another image on a scanner screen showed the bow of the ship and a gun turret poking out above the waterline as it went down.

The vessel is patrolling about 32 km from Bang Saphan District in central Thailand at the time, according to the report in the UK publication Guardian. Storms were expected in the Gulf of Thailand with ferry services suspended over warnings from meteorologists of high waves and heavy rain on Sunday and Monday.

It is the first incident of a Thai warship sinking since the second world war when an American submarine torpedoed the HTMS Samui near Malaysia leaving 31 sailors dead, the report cited Thai media outlet Khaosod English.

The Sukhothai is loaded with a range of missiles, naval guns, and torpedoes. The Thai navy maintains six other corvettes, three of which were locally built, the US Naval Institute reported.

(With inputs from Reuters)