Five crew members remain missing as HTMS Sukhothai mission ends: Navy

BANGKOK: As a 19-day salvage mission came to a conclusion on Monday (March 11), five crew members of the HTMS Sukhothai remain missing.

The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) joined its US counterpart to find the missing crew from the US-built corvette that sank in the Gulf of Thailand in December 2022.

Admiral Chatchai Thongsaard, Commander in Chief of the Royal Thai Fleet, said the joint mission begun on Feb 22 had resulted in the salvage of 58 items of physical evidence, including a CCTV camera recording device. The items should help in determining the true cause of the ship’s sinking, said Chatchai.

The RTN expected to announce the cause of the ship’s sinking within a month, he said, adding that the new evidence should be sufficient to draw a conclusion without having to raise the whole ship from the seabed.

Chatchai said divers from the RTN and the US Navy, who were in Thailand to join this year’s Cobra Gold military exercise, had explored every accessible room and cabin of the ship without finding the bodies of the five missing crew members.

The search included the ship’s bridge, command centre room, commander’s room, radio room, ward room, engine room, radar room, chart room, and hallways.

The diving crews were successful in decommissioning three armaments on the ship, namely harpoon guided missiles, torpedoes, and communication devices, said Chatchai.

Two 22-millimetre guns and 10 rifles brought ashore for the Naval Ordnance Department to inspect.

Divers also brought up 11 objects of sentimental value from the ship, namely the ship’s nameplate, a Garuda statuette, a Buddha statuette, a portrait of King Taksin, a low relief of the Prince of Chumphon, the ship’s bell, an RTN flag, a mast, an anchor, the ship’s commission plate, and the nameplate of the ship commander.

No divers and personnel who participated in this limited salvage mission were injured, said Chatchai.

The US-built HTMS Sukhothai was commissioned by the Thai Navy in June 1987, and sank during a storm off Prachuap Khiri Khan province on December 18, 2022.

High winds and strong waves caused seawater to flood the warship, causing the engines to fail. Of the 105 crew on board, 76 were rescued, 24 were found dead and five were missing and presumed dead. - The Nation/ANN