Thai rescuers hopeful for missing sailors as search enters second day

Relatives of the missing sailors wait for news at Bang Saphan Pier in Prachuap Khiri Khan on Dec 20, 2022. - AFP

PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN, Thailand (AFP): Rescuers in helicopters scoured the Gulf of Thailand on Tuesday (Dec 20) for dozens of sailors who went missing when their naval vessel sank, hoping life jackets had helped them survive two nights in the choppy waters.

Seventy-six sailors from the HTMS Sukhothai were hauled from the sea after the vessel went down late Sunday in the Gulf of Thailand, roughly 37km (22 miles) off the South-East Asian country's southeastern coast.