Pang Sapan, Thailand, Dec. 20 (BNA): Navy ships and rescue teams searched the waters off central Thailand on Tuesday, racing against time to locate 30 missing Marines who were abandoned from a warship that sank over the weekend in choppy waters.
The HTMS Sukhothai, a US-made warship in use since 1987, suffered an engine failure and went down just before midnight Sunday about 20 nautical miles from the coast.
The ship was carrying 105 military personnel when it capsized after being hit by heavy waves, as its engines were submerged.
75 sailors were rescued from the boat, but dozens more had to abandon ship in rafts and wearing life jackets, Reuters reports.
Vice Admiral Pichai Lorcheshosakul, the regional naval commander, said finding the men on Tuesday would be critical given the time they were exposed to the elements.
“The life jacket, life buoy and their floating technology give us 48 hours to save their lives,” he said late Monday. “We will try to do everything we can to save them.”
Although military accidents, often with aircraft, are not uncommon in Thailand, accidents involving navy vessels have been rare in recent years.
One of the men was found late on Monday in the waters off Prachuap Khiri Khan province in the Gulf of Thailand clinging to a buoy.
“He’s been floating in the water for about 10 hours. He’s still conscious, so we can get him out of the water safely,” said Captain Kripesh Korawi Paparoet, commander of the HTMS Cranbury, one of the warships involved in the search mission. .
EAE