The HTMS Sukhothai Corvette Drowned And 33 Marines Lost, Thailand Is Deploying Warships And Helicopters Searching

HTMS Sukhothai warship (FSGM-442). (Twitter/@prroyalthainovy)

JAKARTA - The Thai military deployed warships and helicopters on Monday to try to find 33 missing marine, after a corvette sank in waves in Thailand's Gulf late Sunday, the Navy said.

Three naval vessels and two helicopters were dispatched to find missing off the coast of Prachuap Province Khiri Khan, south of Bangkok, after the HTMS Sukhothai warship (FSGM-442) suffered engine failure and sank before midnight about 20 nautical miles off the coast.

Rescue missions, which were launched in bad weather overnight, managed to secure 73 of the 106 people on board, the navy said, with the remaining 33 forced to leave the ship.

The navy uploaded images and video footage on its Twitter account showing a group of personnel in orange vests on a black inflatable raft moving away from the ship in the dark, as the waves grew around it. It's not clear how many rafts were deployed.

HTMS Sukhothai (FSGM-442), a US-made corvette warship used since 1987, was hit by strong waves on Sunday, forcing it to tilt to one side before being flooded with sea water, Navy spokesman Admiral Pogkrong Monthardpalin said.

An image shared by the navy showed the gray boat capsized to the side, while another image on the scanner screen showed the bow of the ship and a cannon tower rising above the water level as it sank.