Thai navy ship sinking: Race against time to find missing sailors - BBC

Rescuers are combing the Gulf of Thailand successful the important 2nd time of a hunt for 30 sailors who are inactive missing aft a warship sank.

Survivors person been recovered aft floating for hours, with immoderate successful an unconscious state, officials said.

The HTMAS Sukhotai carrying 105 unit went down precocious Sunday aft becoming flooded during a storm.

Rescuers person saved 75 radical truthful far, with boats and helicopters successful an cognition scouring the unsmooth seas.

On Monday night, a Thai naval commandant said beingness jackets and different flotational devices arsenic good arsenic the officers' grooming "allow america 48 hours to prevention their life."

"Therefore, [Tuesday] volition beryllium the highlight. We volition effort to bash arsenic overmuch arsenic we tin to prevention them," Vice Admiral Pichai Lorchusakul said.

With a 3rd of the unit inactive unaccounted for, the Thai navy and aerial unit resumed the hunt connected Tuesday with hundreds of officers connected 4 naval ships arsenic good arsenic respective helicopters deployed to scan a immense 50-square-kilometre (30 quadrate miles) area.

Several sailors person already been found, injured and exhausted aft spending galore hours astatine sea.

"We recovered this feline holding a beingness buoy... helium was floating successful the h2o for 10 hours," Captain Krapich Korawee-Paparwit of the HTMS Kraburi told Reuters.

"He was inactive conscious, truthful we could instrumentality him retired of the h2o safely. He has a insignificant coiled connected his caput and sore eyes arsenic helium was exposed to oversea water."

Another unidentified unit subordinate said helium had been successful the h2o for respective hours earlier helium was rescued.

"The waves were rather high, astir 3 metres erstwhile the vessel sank," helium said successful a clip shared connected section media. "I enactment connected the beingness overgarment and jumped. I swam for 3 hours."

Other sailors were recovered successful a beingness raft aft they jumped from the sinking vessel.

Pictures and footage shared by the navy connected Twitter amusement dozens of survivors wrapped successful blankets and being taken to hospital. Several were besides taken disconnected the rescue ships successful stretchers.

The HTMS Sukhothai, a 76m-long corvette, had been connected time 2 of a regular patrol eastbound disconnected south-eastern Thailand erstwhile it got caught successful a tempest connected Sunday night.

The Thai navy said h2o flooded its hull and past energy room, cutting the power.

Dramatic pictures posted connected the navy's Twitter relationship shows the vas listing onto starboard side, earlier the vas went nether astir 11:30pm Sunday (04:30 GMT).

Other naval ships were instantly alerted and sent to assist, but lone the HTMS Kraburi frigate reached the vas earlier it sank, astir 32km eastbound of Bang Saphan successful the Prachuap Khiri Khan province.

It's not yet known what caused the vessel to flood, and wherefore sailors were forced to leap into the water. The Thai navy said this was the archetypal clip it had mislaid a vessel successful specified circumstances.

The warship had been commissioned successful 1987 and built successful the United States by a section shipbuilding company, said the US Naval Institute.