It is a major rescue operation.

Two days after the sinking of a military ship in the Gulf of Thailand, one of the missing sailors was found alive while the bodies of four other sailors were fished out on Tuesday, December 20, by the Royal Navy.

"Four are dead," Royal Thai Navy Commander-in-Chief Choengchai Chomchoengpaet told a news conference in Bangkok.

Earlier, Commander Pichai Lorchusakul announced that another sailor had been found "in good health". "This is good news, which shows that we can find more people," he said.

"The difficulty of the rescue mission is that there is a lot of wind and waves, which led to the malfunction (of the 'HTMS Sukhothai'). It's the same to save the victims, "said commander.

Four warships, two Dornier maritime patrol aircraft and four helicopters have been deployed to the search area, a square about 50 kilometers per side, which spans the provinces of Prachuap Khiri Khan and Chumphon.

"I would like to kiss her"

"The search area has increased since yesterday (Monday), we are concentrating on the coasts, depending on the currents and the wind," Navy spokesman Admiral Pogkrong Montradpalin said.

On the quay, families of missing sailors scan the horizon in the hope of catching a glimpse of their loved ones, although the chances of finding them are dwindling by the hour.

Phongsri Suksawat, 50, believes "100%" that her youngest son, Chirawat Toophorm, 22, will "come home" to Rayong.

"I would like to kiss him," she says.

Malinee Pudpong, 54, made the long trip from Roi Et province (northeast) on Monday to wait for her nephew Saharat Esa, 21, who went to sea aboard the "HTMS Sukhothai".

"I came here to watch the waves and think. For God's sake, where is my nephew?" she said.

"I hope we will find survivors, who would have held on thanks to the life jackets," Narong Khumburi, a Navy officer who is taking part in the rescue mission, told AFP.

"I imagine they must be tired" after two nights at sea, he added.

Unprecedented shipwreck

Rough seas, with waves "three meters" high according to a survivor, contributed to damaging the HTMS Sukhothai's electrical system and sending it "out of control", according to the Royal Thai Navy. 

It is the "first time" that a warship has been wrecked in Thailand in peacetime, Commander Pichai said on Monday.

Thailand's meteorological office on Tuesday reiterated its call for caution for navigation in the Gulf of Thailand, due to expected gusty winds that can create stormy conditions.

On Monday afternoon, the majority of the rescued crew members were airlifted to a Navy-run military hospital in Sattahip (east).

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, also defense minister, said on Monday that there were "about five seriously injured".

The American-made "HTMS Sukhothai" was commissioned in 1987, according to the US Naval Institute think tank.

In one of the worst shipwrecks in Thai history, more than 40 tourists died in July 2018 near Phuket.

With AFP 

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