The House of Representatives committee plans to call Prime Minister Prayut Chan ocha (right) in his capacity as Minister of Defence and the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Navy Admiral Choengchai Chomchoengpaet (left) before it to answer questions concerning the sinking of the HTMS Sukhothai on December 18th with consequent loss of life.

 

by Joseph O' Connor

Opposition threatening to bring Prime Minister Prayut Chan ocha, who is also the Minister of Defence, before a House of Representatives committee to be grilled on the HTMS Sukhothai disaster at sea. It now looks increasingly likely that 29 lives have been lost in the incident with 10 still thought to be missing. 

MPs in the House of Representatives are pushing this week to grill Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan ocha in his capacity as Minister of Defence and the commander of the Royal Thai Navy on the sinking and loss of life aboard the HTMS Sukhothai which went down on December 18th last in stormy seats in the Gulf of Thailand. On Monday, it is understood that 19 of those aboard the vessel at the time are thought to have died in the incident while 10 are still not accounted for with 76 survivors.

 

On Monday, the Commander and Chief of the Royal Thai Navy Admiral Choengchai Chomchoengpaet announced the navy’s own panel to investigate the incident including the readiness of the ship when it put to sea on the fateful weekend and the decisions taken in the lead-up to the vessel foundering, capsizing and ultimately sinking in stormy waters off the coast.

 

Full story: https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/12/26/heat-is-on-over-the-sukhothai-naval-tragedy/

 

-- © Copyright Thai Examiner 2022-12-27

 

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Incompetence is a bitch. She won't stay under the bed.

"announced the navy’s own panel to investigate the incident ".... We already know what will happen... nothing. Someone will be demoted or transferred and someone who is just as inept will be promoted. I still wonder why there is such a thing as the Thai Royal Navy when they can't even protect themselves when going from point A to point B. What would happen if they were called upon to actually protect the Thai people from an invasion?

 

Get rid of the so-called ROYAL Thai Navy and save some money. The only thing "royal" about them is how Royally screwed up and inept they are. 

Seen an episode of Myth Busters where they pumped ping pong balls down into a sunken boat to raise it up. Hope the Thai Navy refloats that ship.

Probably burning g the midnight oil to ensure the maintenance records are up to date before they hand them over.  First thing that should have been grabbed and sealed along with all training records immediately after the incident.  It is what we do in the West at least.....

Gotta pay for subs…

59 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Probably burning g the midnight oil to ensure the maintenance records are up to date before they hand them over.  First thing that should have been grabbed and sealed along with all training records immediately after the incident.  It is what we do in the West at least.....

The very first thing that should have been grabbed immediately after the tragic incident should have been the Captain.

Instead, he makes speeches about wanting to find his lost Boys and bring them Home.

Vomit inducing

49 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Probably burning the midnight oil to ensure the maintenance records are up to date before they hand them over.  First thing that should have been grabbed and sealed along with all training records immediately after the incident.  It is what we do in the West at least.....

Yeap, maintenance and training.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if there wasn't periodic major intermediate and/or drydock-level maintenance overdue due to a maintenance funding shortfall or senior leadership delaying maintenance just to keep the ship in operation.  Many operators (i.e., admirals, generals, etc.,) just hate to see their ships, planes, and tanks go into depot-level maintenance which can last months to years.   There has always been a battle between operators, maintainers, and budget folks as to when big-money maintenance can be accomplished.  

 

Any yea, training could have been lacking like sailors being signed-off in training records as being fully qualified/trained on certain tasks when in fact they hadn't received enough training....that is, pencil-whipping training records. 

 

And no, I'm not saying insufficient training for the "enlisted" sailors or overdue maintenance as the driving factor may have been poor leadership & operational decisions made by the "officers" during the emergency.  

 

But to get to the bottom of things all necessary docs/records need to be immediately secured to prevent records from being doctored to cover tracks.

 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

On Monday, the Commander and Chief of the Royal Thai Navy Admiral Choengchai Chomchoengpaet announced the navy’s own panel to investigate the incident

It's like allowing RTP to investigate allegations of corruption in their ranks ... oh!

I'm very surprised to learn the International convention of safety at sea does not include warships, so not enough life jackets is sadly not a crime in this case.

Why was the order not given to secure all doors/hatches ? It's the budget for maintenance that needs to be scrutinized by a completely independent investigation, but is there such a thing in Thailand ??

6 hours ago, worldexpress said:

Incompetence is a bitch. She won't stay under the bed.

Face, money and position are higher priorities than competence and safety here.

 

1 hour ago, Pib said:

Yeap, maintenance and training.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if there wasn't periodic major intermediate and/or drydock-level maintenance overdue due to a maintenance funding shortfall or senior leadership delaying maintenance just to keep the ship in operation.  Many operators (i.e., admirals, generals, etc.,) just hate to see their ships, planes, and tanks go into depot-level maintenance which can last months to years.   There has always been a battle between operators, maintainers, and budget folks as to when big-money maintenance can be accomplished.  

 

Any yea, training could have been lacking like sailors being signed-off in training records as being fully qualified/trained on certain tasks when in fact they hadn't received enough training....that is, pencil-whipping training records. 

 

And no, I'm not saying insufficient training for the "enlisted" sailors or overdue maintenance as the driving factor may have been poor leadership & operational decisions made by the "officers" during the emergency.  

 

But to get to the bottom of things all necessary docs/records need to be immediately secured to prevent records from being doctored to cover tracks.

 

I've been working in Thailand for 33 years and I have quite a lot to say about training and maintenance. None of it good though.

 

You can put all the measures; management systems, procedures etc. in place but they will never be adhered to. Some inadequate, little man with an ego will eventually come along and think he knows better. 

38 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

I'm very surprised to learn the International convention of safety at sea does not include warships, so not enough life jackets is sadly not a crime in this case.

Why was the order not given to secure all doors/hatches ? It's the budget for maintenance that needs to be scrutinized by a completely independent investigation, but is there such a thing in Thailand ??

I would assume the orders were not given because of lack of competence, i.e. lack of proper training and assessment, lack of proper drills, etc. However it could be the case that they don't even have proper ERPs or at least didn't follow them. Probably panicked when the emergency occurred and realised very quickly they were way out of their depth (no pun intended).

1 hour ago, mikebell said:

It's like allowing RTP to investigate allegations of corruption in their ranks ... oh!

Fox guarding the henhouse.

 

Blind leading the blind.

 

Etc.

 

was chatting to me friend's 13 and 15 year old children last week, they were telling me about this incident and were critical of the government and navy, they are getting tuned in at a young age these days.

Just admit you lost 29 soldiers. They are not floating around alive, nor are they hanging out on a local beach somewhere. 

 

The brass needs to be severely punished, for this incredible breach of safety protocols. Heads should roll. The world looks on with astonishment. 

8 hours ago, webfact said:

The House of Representatives committee plans to call Prime Minister Prayut Chan ocha (right) in his capacity as Minister of Defence and the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Navy Admiral Choengchai Chomchoengpaet (left) before it to answer questions concerning the sinking of the HTMS Sukhothai on December 18th with consequent loss of life.

And to receive their joint resignation letters from their posts?

8 hours ago, webfact said:

On Monday, the Commander and Chief of the Royal Thai Navy Admiral Choengchai Chomchoengpaet announced the navy’s own panel to investigate the incident including the readiness of the ship when it put to sea on the fateful weekend and the decisions taken in the lead-up to the vessel foundering, capsizing and ultimately sinking in stormy waters off the coast.

Internal investigations in Thailand are worthless.

3 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

The very first thing that should have been grabbed immediately after the tragic incident should have been the Captain.

Instead, he makes speeches about wanting to find his lost Boys and bring them Home.

Vomit inducing

Right, the Captain is not only responsible for all the people on his ship, but the ship itself and to ensure its seaworthy? He should have been arrested and interrogated?

If the Thai navy ships are as bad as the Ferries between the islands a sea worthy vessel certificate should never be issued the standards between sea worthy craft in Asia and those in other countries of the Western World would deem them to the scrapyard RIP to all those who perished and yes a full enquiry should be held by independent investigators to ensure nothing is brushed under the carpet with no interference from the Government  

1 minute ago, mikeymike100 said:

Right, the Captain is not only responsible for all the people on his ship, but the ship itself and to ensure its seaworthy? He should have been arrested and interrogated?

A Captain is meant to be the last person on board the ship they are charged with I would of thought he would of gone down with his ship and the poor souls who are still interned in the sunken vessel 

19 minutes ago, mikeymike100 said:

Right, the Captain is not only responsible for all the people on his ship, but the ship itself and to ensure its seaworthy? He should have been arrested and interrogated?

Wait, I always heard tales stating the Captain must go down with the ship...what happened did he step on his subordinates backs to get into a rescue boat?

"10 still thought to be missing. "

 

Scary when they don't know very much about thrown people.....But then..the elite of the RTN would never be bothered with ordinary soldiers/seamen.

A national tragedy. Why was the flag not at half mast for a month?

Just now, mackayae said:

A national tragedy. Why was the flag not at half mast for a month?

Waiting for something like a year of mourning for all 31.

They'll blame the entire incident on a few of the lowest ranking enlisted pukes and then bury the whole fiasco. 

Edited December 27, 20223 yr by connda

22 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Wait, I always heard tales stating the Captain must go down with the ship...what happened did he step on his subordinates backs to get into a rescue boat?

Probably so.

23 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Wait, I always heard tales stating the Captain must go down with the ship...what happened did he step on his subordinates backs to get into a rescue boat?

Well he didn't, so he abandoned ship before everyone was off safely?

Ergo he should be arrested? Having said that its Thailand, so who knows?

This Sukhothai naval disaster should be a nail in the coffin of Chinese Submarines.  But it doesn't seem to be ringing such alarms.  As yet, I am unaware of any officials in a position to do so addressing the Chinese Submarine issues with respect to the extremely high life cycle costs of an undersea vessel (Safety, Logistics, Operational Effectiveness).

 

Plus, even such a Cost and Operational Effectiveness Analysis does not address the Strategic Military and Foreign Policy implications of being susceptible to CCP blackmail and CCP personnel stationed on Thai soil.

12 hours ago, HuskerDo2 said:

"announced the navy’s own panel to investigate the incident ".... We already know what will happen... nothing. Someone will be demoted or transferred and someone who is just as inept will be promoted. I still wonder why there is such a thing as the Thai Royal Navy when they can't even protect themselves when going from point A to point B. What would happen if they were called upon to actually protect the Thai people from an invasion?

 

Get rid of the so-called ROYAL Thai Navy and save some money. The only thing "royal" about them is how Royally screwed up and inept they are. 

They are not there to 'protect' the Thai people but like the Army, who are there to 'supress' the people as required by one Corrupt Government after another !

13 hours ago, HuskerDo2 said:

"announced the navy’s own panel to investigate the incident ".... We already know what will happen... nothing. Someone will be demoted or transferred and someone who is just as inept will be promoted. I still wonder why there is such a thing as the Thai Royal Navy when they can't even protect themselves when going from point A to point B. What would happen if they were called upon to actually protect the Thai people from an invasion?

 

Get rid of the so-called ROYAL Thai Navy and save some money. The only thing "royal" about them is how Royally screwed up and inept they are. 

A slight error, the term "Promoted in Thai means purchased" so what you end up with is the most currupt always make their way to the top. Bids are probably already being place in brown envelopes as we speak...