A team of 53 navy divers and medical personnel dove down to the sunken HTMS Sukhothai today (Sunday), to find out whether any of the missing crew members are trapped in the ship.
Captain Pongsak Ramnut, chief of the diving and demolition division of the Naval Ordnance Department, led the mission. Before the mission, he said that all the divers had been warned not to dive too close to the sunken ship, because it is unstable and could move if struck by a strong current.
All divers, he added, were told to take their own safety as their first priority, because the Royal Thai Navy does not want to see any further loss of life.
The sunken ship rests at a depth of about 40 metres, off Bang Saphan district of Prachuap Khiri Khan. Sea conditions remain rough and the currents are strong, which could pose problems for the divers, he said.
The search for missing crew continues for the seventh day today and the focus has now turned to the area around the site of the sunken vessel, where eight bodies have been recovered in the past two days, leaving 14 still unaccounted for.
Captain Pongsak said that, if there is an update on the search operation, he would inform the public.
Relatives of missing crew are still anxiously waiting for the return of their loved ones in Bang Saphan district, where a search operations centre was set up.
