11 crew members from a Bangladeshi cargo ship were missing on Thursday after the vessel capsized in the Andaman Sea, said the Thai navy.
The ship, which was heading for Bangladesh's port at Chittagong, ran into trouble early yesterday in rough seas some 32 kilometres off an island near Phuket in Thailand's south.
The reason for the capsize is not yet clear, but the 97-metre, 5,550-ton MV Hope, broadcasted an SOS at 3:57am which was picked up by the Australian Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) which relayed details of the ship’s last known position to its counterpart in Bangkok, The Phuket News reported.
It is believed the Hope, a general cargo ship launched 23 years ago, was on its way from the Strait of Malacca to Bangladesh.
Heading northwest, it was fighting heavy crosswinds and waves coming beam-on.
A Royal Thai Navy Third Fleet helicopter was scrambled and flew out to check the scene, about 29 nautical miles (54 kilometres) south of Racha Yai, and a navy helicopter and patrol plane are also quartering the ocean looking for the missing crew members.
A German container ship, the Buxmoon, is also on the scene looking for survivors.
Five members of the crew of the Hope were spotted in a lifeboat, and were later picked up by the Buxmoon, which will take them to Bangladesh. They are believed to be uninjured.
Another crewman has been pulled out from the sea injured and was flown aboard a Thai Navy helicopter to Phuket, where is now recovering in Vachira Phuket Hospital.
Eighteen of the crew were rescued from the ship by a Thai navy helicopter, according to Thammawut Marlaisukarin, a captain in the Thai navy, but ten others were in a lifeboat “that drifted from the site” of the rescue, reports AFP.
The missing crew members had not been located after several hours of searching.
“We will resume rescue efforts by deploying helicopters to search for the lifeboat,” Thammawut added.
“The ship got capsized in rough seas -- there are five-metre high waves in the Andaman Sea near Phuket now,” he said.
UNB reported that the cargo ship was owned by a company named Freight Breeze Shipping.
Phuket is Thailand's biggest island and one of its most popular tourist destinations.
