Fishing Fuel-Supply Vessel Sinks in the Gulf of Thailand: Six Crew Missing as Navy Searches off Sattahip
The Royal Thai Navy said on November 11 that a Thai-registered fishing fuel-supply vessel, Venus 14, sank that day in the Gulf of Thailand with six crew members missing. The vessel went down about 27 nautical miles southwest (bearing 227 degrees) of the entrance to the channel of the Sattahip Naval Base in Chonburi Province. The Navy received the alert at about 9 a.m.; the cause of the sinking and the amount of fuel on board were not yet known.
Royal Thai Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Chanin Sriyaphai said the First Naval Area Command had deployed patrol boat Tor 113 and a Type 1 maritime surveillance aircraft to search the area, while HTMS Panyi and a helicopter were on standby for a possible fuel spill.
The search is being coordinated with the Marine Department's oil spill centre and the Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Centre Region 1. As of the Navy's announcement, the whereabouts and condition of the six missing crew members had not been confirmed.
Venus 14 is an auxiliary vessel supplying fuel to fishing boats, not a large crude oil tanker. The Gulf of Thailand is a key area for Thai fishing and shipping, and the Sattahip area hosts a major Royal Thai Navy base.
Source: Royal Thai Navy
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 泰国Sattahip湾海面（资料图）。图：美国海军Corey Hensley摄，公共领域，经维基共享资源 / Sattahip Bay, Thailand (file photo). U.S. Navy photo by Corey Hensley, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
