6 still missing from HTMS Sukhothai after grim discoveries in Chumphon
The bodies of two more crewmen from the ill-fated HTMS Sukhothai were retrieved on Wednesday morning, leaving six still missing, the Royal Thai Navy said.
Vice Admiral Pichai Lorchusakul, commander of the First Naval Area, said a Chumphon fishing patrol boat was alerted at 8.30am that a body had washed onto a beach on the holiday island of Koh Samet, 3 kilometres from the mainland.
Pichai said the patrol boat alerted the Rak Sal Dhama Paknam Chumphon Rescue Foundation to retrieve the body.
The victim was dressed in a Royal Thai Navy mechanics uniform and was not wearing a life jacket. The body was transported to the Chumphon illegal fishing suppression centre before being handed over to Navy officials for identification at the Sawang Rat Sattha Foundation in Prachuap Khiri Khan.
At 10am, another body was spotted near Chumphon’s famous diving spot of Koh Ngam Yai.
HTMS Sukhothai capsized and sank some 20 nautical miles off the coast of Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Bang Saphan district on December 18.
On Wednesday, divers from HTMS Ravi resumed their mission to check the wreck of the ship, aided by a SeaFox underwater drone deployed by HTMS Bang Rajan.
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