Four missing crewmen of a container ship that sank near the Chonburi border last month were found inside the vessel after it was salvaged.
Chief engineer Tharadol Pangwised, executive officer Navin Suphanpayak, pilot Kukan Wangsuk, and oiler Sompol Chaochiangkwang went missing when the Phatara Marine 5, a 1,029-gross-ton, 71-meter-long container vessel, went down in heavy seas Sept. 19 about seven nautical miles from the mouth of the Chao Phraya River between Samut Prakan and Chonburi.
The ship, carrying canned food and consumer products, was en route to Malaysia when it sank in seas churned up by tropical depression Vamco, spilling shipping containers into the sea. Captain Pathom Napasako and a passenger were rescued.
Tugboats begin towing the sunken vessel to a dockyard in Muang District of Samut Prakan.
Navy patrol ships, helicopters and divers searched for a week for the missing men. Fifteen divers searched the ship Sept 27, but did not locate the bodies as the engine room where the sailors’ bodies were found, had been inaccessible.
The navy called off the search and salvage operations, originally set to start Sept 28, began Oct. 6 after weather-related delays.
The Royal Thai Navy provided support for the salvage operation run by AZ Underwater Works Oct. 6, with a Seahawk helicopter out of the U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya Airport.
A 200-ton crane barge and three tugboats were used after divers secured inflatable pontoons, which lifted the sunken vessel to the surface to be towed to a dockyard in Muang District of Samut Prakan.
The helicopter crew also checked the sea for pollution caused by leaking fuel from the ship, but reported no damage to coastal areas.
