(Bangkok) La marine royale thaïlandaise a lancé lundi une opération de sauvetage pour retrouver les 31 personnes disparues après le naufrage d’un navire militaire dans le golfe de Thaïlande, alors que des dizaines d’autres ont été secourues dans une mer agitée.
Quelque 31 des 106 membres de l’équipage du HTMS Sukhothai sont toujours portés disparus, a indiqué dans l’après-midi l’amiral Pogkrong Montradpalin, porte-parole de la marine royale thaïlandaise, plusieurs heures après le début des recherches.
Dans la nuit de dimanche à lundi, l’équipage a « perdu le contrôle » du navire, qui a commencé à couler peu après minuit [12 h (heure de l’Est)]about thirty kilometers from the coast, at Bang Saphan, in the province of Prachuap Khiri Khan (South).
On a rough sea, the electrical system of the patrol corvette was damaged, to the point of causing the stoppage of the machines ensuring its operation, he explained.
Images released by the navy show the ship, completely leaning on one side, half engulfed by the waters.
“The waves were quite high, about three meters, when the ship sank,” a rescued sailor, blanket over his shoulders, sitting in the back of an ambulance, told state broadcaster Thai PBS.
“When the boat started to sink, I put on a life jacket and jumped out. I swam for three hours,” he said, explaining that one of the lifeboats couldn’t get close enough because of the waves.
In the afternoon, some members of the crew were airlifted to a military hospital run by the navy, in Sattahip (East).
“I follow the information carefully. There are about five seriously injured,” said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, a former army general who also serves as defense minister.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE ROYAL THAI NAVY VIA REUTERS
One of the HTMS crew members Sukhothai is being treated for a head injury.
Stormy weather
Some 75 people were rescued by the rescue mission, which includes two military helicopters, two frigates and an amphibious ship dispatched to the scene, according to a navy statement.
Some of them jumped into lifeboats in the middle of the night, according to official footage.
The Air Force announced on Monday that it was involved in the rescue operation, without providing further details.
PHOTO LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA, AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
The search is focused on an area approximately 32 by 24 kilometers, about 30 kilometers south of the last position of the HTMS Sukhothai.
“The operation will also cover the areas where the last crew members were found,” the navy spokesman added.
HTMS SukhothaiAmerican-made, was commissioned in 1987, according to the US Naval Institute think tank.
Several parts of southern Thailand have been hit by thunderstorms and heavy showers in recent days, notably causing the interruption of ferry traffic between the mainland and the tourist island of Koh Samui on Sunday and Monday.
Thailand’s meteorological service warned on Monday that small boats should not set sail in the Gulf of Thailand due to thunderstorms.
In one of the worst shipwrecks in the country’s history, more than forty tourists died in July 2018 near Phuket.