Phuket rescue launched for Bangladeshi cargo ship: 17 crew rescued, 13 missing

[Lite Beer]

Phuket rescue launched for Bangladeshi cargo ship: 17 crew rescued, 13 missing
Phuket Gazette -

The search continues for 10 crewman missing after the cargo ship MV Hope capsized about 25 nautical miles south of Racha Noi Island. Map: Gazette file

PHUKET: The Royal Thai Navy has launched an air-sea rescue effort to recover the missing crew from Bangladeshi cargo ship MV Hope after the vessel capsized in heavy seas south of Phuket early this morning.

The MV Hope, registered at 97 meters long, started taking on water in heavy seas at about 1:10am, reported Capt Thammawat Malaisukkarin, Director of the Naval Civil Affairs.

“It was heading to Bangladesh, but it was hit by waves reaching up to four meters,” Capt Thammawat told the Phuket Gazette.

“The ship began listing and the crew decided to abandon ship. Before launching the lifeboats, they sent an Inmarsat distress signal, which was relayed to the Thai Department of Civil Aviation,” he explained.

The MV Hope was about 25 nautical miles south of Koh Racha Noi when the heavy seas began to take their toll, he added.

Another Bangladeshi cargo ship, MV Bux Moon, was nearby and rendered assistance. They brought on board 17 people.

At least 13 people are still missing.

The Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command, based at Cape Panwa on Phuket’s east coast, dispatched one of its vessels to search for the missing crew.

“However, searching for them in this weather will be difficult,” Capt Thammawat noted.

“We also have a helicopter on standby, but it cannot take off in these conditions,” he added.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/Phuket-rescue-launched-for-Bangladeshi-cargo-ship-17-crew-rescued-13-missing-21534.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2013-07-04

[webfact]

Ten missing as cargo ship capsizes off Thailand

BANGKOK, July 4, 2013 (AFP) - Ten crew members from a Bangladeshi cargo ship were missing Thursday after their vessel capsized in the Andaman Sea, sparking a rescue mission, the Thai navy said.

The ship, which was heading for Bangladesh's port of Chittagong, ran into trouble early Thursday in rough seas some 32 kilometres (20 miles) off an island near Phuket in Thailand's south.

Eighteen of the crew were rescued from the ship by a 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.

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 capsized in rough seas -- there are five-metre (16 feet) high waves in the Andaman Sea near Phuket now," he said.

Phuket is Thailand's biggest island and one of its most popular tourist destinations.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2013-07-04

[Suffinator]

News reports are still coming in. One Phuket resident reported that despite the severe weather warnings the local speedboats were still packing in the tourists and heading out to Phi Phi.

Tourist Lives Still Being Put at Risk in Phuket

[Espinete]

Hopefully they are able to rescue as many as possible. Better action than pushing refugees back on the sea.

[Espen]

Best of wishes to my fellow seamen who are missing. It must be difficult to find them if they didn`t bring a VHF or other localization equipment on board their raft. But if their rafts are anything like the rafts I am used to, they should be able to survive high seas and collect rainwater. So keep on searching.

[jpinx]

What's wrong with the helicopters that they can't fly ?

[Dellboy218]

Best of wishes to my fellow seamen who are missing. It must be difficult to find them if they didn`t bring a VHF or other localization equipment on board their raft. But if their rafts are anything like the rafts I am used to, they should be able to survive high seas and collect rainwater. So keep on searching.

Hardly High Seas at 4/5 metres, a 7000 tonner should have handled that without any problem. I guess the aftermath will be in the journals for lessons to be learned.

[webfact]

UPDATE:
Five still missing as Bangladeshi ship capsized off Phuket
The Nation

PHUKET: -- Thai Navy on Thursday rescued six of the 11 missing crew of a Bangladeshi cargo ship that capsized in the Andaman Sea.

The last person rescued in the afternoon by the Thai Navy was identified as 40-year-old Abubagar Siddiue.

At the press time, the search is continued for other five missing persons despite the bad weather.

The "MV HOPE" ship, heading for Bangladesh's port of Chittagong, capsized in rough seas 32 kilometres off an island near Phuket this morning. Eighteen of the crew were rescued from the ship by a Navy helicopter, but 11 others were in a lifeboat "that drifted from the site".

Later five such crewmembers were rescued by another vessel namely "MV BUX MOON" which now headed to Chittagong.


-- The Nation 2013-07-04

[LivinginKata]

What's wrong with the helicopters that they can't fly ?

“However, searching for them in this weather will be difficult,” Capt Thammawat noted.

“We also have a helicopter on standby, but it cannot take off in these conditions,” he added.

The overnight and morning weather here in Phuket was very bad and would prevent the safe operation of any sort of helicopter.

[Espen]

Best of wishes to my fellow seamen who are missing. It must be difficult to find them if they didn`t bring a VHF or other localization equipment on board their raft. But if their rafts are anything like the rafts I am used to, they should be able to survive high seas and collect rainwater. So keep on searching.

Hardly High Seas at 4/5 metres, a 7000 tonner should have handled that without any problem. I guess the aftermath will be in the journals for lessons to be learned.

I appreciate you opinion, but I would consider 4/5 meter waves to be high for an emergency raft, though it should be able to handle that.

[Espen]

What's wrong with the helicopters that they can't fly ?

The way I understood it is that the wind is too strong at the moment.

[fxe1200]

Best of wishes to my fellow seamen who are missing. It must be difficult to find them if they didn`t bring a VHF or other localization equipment on board their raft. But if their rafts are anything like the rafts I am used to, they should be able to survive high seas and collect rainwater. So keep on searching.

Hardly High Seas at 4/5 metres, a 7000 tonner should have handled that without any problem. I guess the aftermath will be in the journals for lessons to be learned.

The regular Bangladeshi floating coffin.

[Dellboy218]

Best of wishes to my fellow seamen who are missing. It must be difficult to find them if they didn`t bring a VHF or other localization equipment on board their raft. But if their rafts are anything like the rafts I am used to, they should be able to survive high seas and collect rainwater. So keep on searching.

Hardly High Seas at 4/5 metres, a 7000 tonner should have handled that without any problem. I guess the aftermath will be in the journals for lessons to be learned.

I appreciate you opinion, but I would consider 4/5 meter waves to be high for an emergency raft, though it should be able to handle that.

I certainly would agree with that, any sea in a liferaft is high but not for a 7000 tonner that is why everyone is told that your best lifeboat is the mother ship and you stay with that until the last A well found ship of that size, even a 23 year old one should have had no problems. FXE120 maybe right but I hope not.

[Espen]

Best of wishes to my fellow seamen who are missing. It must be difficult to find them if they didn`t bring a VHF or other localization equipment on board their raft. But if their rafts are anything like the rafts I am used to, they should be able to survive high seas and collect rainwater. So keep on searching.

Hardly High Seas at 4/5 metres, a 7000 tonner should have handled that without any problem. I guess the aftermath will be in the journals for lessons to be learned.

I appreciate you opinion, but I would consider 4/5 meter waves to be high for an emergency raft, though it should be able to handle that.

I certainly would agree with that, any sea in a liferaft is high but not for a 7000 tonner that is why everyone is told that your best lifeboat is the mother ship and you stay with that until the last A well found ship of that size, even a 23 year old one should have had no problems. FXE120 maybe right but I hope not.

I understand what you mean. On my boat, which is less than 2000 tons, we consider that kind of weather to be normal fishing weather in the North Atlantic.

I also hope FXE1200 is wrong.

[DaamNaam]

What's wrong with the helicopters that they can't fly ?

"We will resume rescue efforts by deploying helicopters to search for the lifeboat," Thammawut added.

Weather a major factor in flying choppers offshore.

[CIHUAHUA]

Best of wishes to my fellow seamen who are missing. It must be difficult to find them if they didn`t bring a VHF or other localization equipment on board their raft. But if their rafts are anything like the rafts I am used to, they should be able to survive high seas and collect rainwater. So keep on searching.

Hardly High Seas at 4/5 metres, a 7000 tonner should have handled that without any problem. I guess the aftermath will be in the journals for lessons to be learned.

I appreciate you opinion, but I would consider 4/5 meter waves to be high for an emergency raft, though it should be able to handle that.

Bangladeshi seamen without the skills needed to run a cargo ship? And, the Thai government wants to hire 50,000 Bangladeshi fishermen?

Edited July 4, 2013 by metisdead
Unnecessary usage of bold font removed.

[Dellboy218]

Best of wishes to my fellow seamen who are missing. It must be difficult to find them if they didn`t bring a VHF or other localization equipment on board their raft. But if their rafts are anything like the rafts I am used to, they should be able to survive high seas and collect rainwater. So keep on searching.

Hardly High Seas at 4/5 metres, a 7000 tonner should have handled that without any problem. I guess the aftermath will be in the journals for lessons to be learned.

I appreciate you opinion, but I would consider 4/5 meter waves to be high for an emergency raft, though it should be able to handle that.

Bangladeshi seamen without the skills needed to run a cargo ship? And, the Thai government wants to hire 50,000 Bangladeshi fishermen?

A ship needs more than the skills of its crew. I am sure Espen, with whom I have just been swapping stories with, will agree with me that Those skills have to be matched by a company that is committed to their property and those that operate it. This sounds like they might not have been.

[rbrooks]

What's wrong with the helicopters that they can't fly ?

Maybe just the pilots don't want to fly or my guess is they are not equipped with all weather flying copters and/or not properly trained. Search and Rescue with the Coast Guard and USAF Pararescue teams here in the U.S. use the MH-60G Pave Hawk Helos and they fly in almost any conditions to search and rescue.

[Espen]

Best of wishes to my fellow seamen who are missing. It must be difficult to find them if they didn`t bring a VHF or other localization equipment on board their raft. But if their rafts are anything like the rafts I am used to, they should be able to survive high seas and collect rainwater. So keep on searching.

Hardly High Seas at 4/5 metres, a 7000 tonner should have handled that without any problem. I guess the aftermath will be in the journals for lessons to be learned.

Bangladeshi seamen without the skills needed to run a cargo ship? And, the Thai government wants to hire 50,000 Bangladeshi fishermen?

A ship needs more than the skills of its crew. I am sure Espen, with whom I have just been swapping stories with, will agree with me that Those skills have to be matched by a company that is committed to their property and those that operate it. This sounds like they might not have been.

@CIHUAHUA. I resent your statement about seamen from Bangladesh. How do you know that this accident has anything to do with their skills. There can be many different reasons for a ship to get in trouble. No need to immediately blame the people who can not defend themselves.

[jpinx]

I can't find the weather conditions quoted anywhere other then the usual emotive journalism. Helicopters can fly in severe conditions - even the little Bolkow 105 I used to have would cope with force 8 and severe turbulence - biggest problem was puking passengers. Nowadays the training is so bad that airframe drivers don't want to get airborne in anything other than a stiff breeze. I wouldn't call them pilots anymore........

I saw one contribution above from a fisherman - he'll understand

[Espen]

I can't find the weather conditions quoted anywhere other then the usual emotive journalism. Helicopters can fly in severe conditions - even the little Bolkow 105 I used to have would cope with force 8 and severe turbulence - biggest problem was puking passengers. Nowadays the training is so bad that airframe drivers don't want to get airborne in anything other than a stiff breeze. I wouldn't call them pilots anymore........

I saw one contribution above from a fisherman - he'll understand

The most recent rescue operation that I am familiar with was done in 52 knots wind and 15 meter waves by an Eurocopter EC-225 from Bristow-Norway.

http://www.aftenbladet.no/nyheter/lokalt/Trosset-flyforbud_-reddet-11-mann-3094954.html#.UdWVqWgw85t (Norwegian web-site.)

Edited July 4, 2013 by Espen

[IrishIvan]

Best of wishes to my fellow seamen who are missing. It must be difficult to find them if they didn`t bring a VHF or other localization equipment on board their raft. But if their rafts are anything like the rafts I am used to, they should be able to survive high seas and collect rainwater. So keep on searching.

Hardly High Seas at 4/5 metres, a 7000 tonner should have handled that without any problem.  I guess the aftermath will be in the journals for lessons to be learned.

I thought exactly the same thing.

[otherstuff1957]

According to the Phuket Gazette the ship is listing heavily, but had not yet sunk when the crew abandoned ship.

The crew seem to have forgotten the basic rule of thumb that the ship is always safer than a lifeboat.

[Espen]

According to the Phuket Gazette the ship is listing heavily, but had not yet sunk when the crew abandoned ship.

The crew seem to have forgotten the basic rule of thumb that the ship is always safer than a lifeboat.

It is hard to leave a ship after it has sunk though.

[jpinx]

According to the Phuket Gazette the ship is listing heavily, but had not yet sunk when the crew abandoned ship.

The crew seem to have forgotten the basic rule of thumb that the ship is always safer than a lifeboat.

It is hard to leave a ship after it has sunk though.

Looking at the sea in the photo, there is absolutely no reason for the helicopter not to be flying. How did they get this photo? Was the news-crew braver than the search-and-rescue crew?

[Espen]

According to the Phuket Gazette the ship is listing heavily, but had not yet sunk when the crew abandoned ship.

The crew seem to have forgotten the basic rule of thumb that the ship is always safer than a lifeboat.

It is hard to leave a ship after it has sunk though.

Looking at the sea in the photo, there is absolutely no reason for the helicopter not to be flying. How did they get this photo? Was the news-crew braver than the search-and-rescue crew?

Update from The Nation:

"The "MV HOPE" ship, heading for Bangladesh's port of Chittagong, capsized in rough seas 32 kilometres off an island near Phuket this morning. Eighteen of the crew were rescued from the ship by a Navy helicopter, but 11 others were in a lifeboat "that drifted from the site"." (Post nr 8.)

From that same post I understand that the last 11 sailors were rescued later.

And the photo was probably taken from the Navy helicopter.

Edited July 5, 2013 by Espen

[jpinx]

According to the Phuket Gazette the ship is listing heavily, but had not yet sunk when the crew abandoned ship.

The crew seem to have forgotten the basic rule of thumb that the ship is always safer than a lifeboat.

It is hard to leave a ship after it has sunk though.

Looking at the sea in the photo, there is absolutely no reason for the helicopter not to be flying. How did they get this photo? Was the news-crew braver than the search-and-rescue crew?

Update from The Nation:

"The "MV HOPE" ship, heading for Bangladesh's port of Chittagong, capsized in rough seas 32 kilometres off an island near Phuket this morning. Eighteen of the crew were rescued from the ship by a Navy helicopter, but 11 others were in a lifeboat "that drifted from the site"." (Post nr 8.)

From that same post I understand that the last 11 sailors were rescued later.

And the photo was probably taken from the Navy helicopter.

I really hope everyone got off safely

[webfact]

Phuket Navy resumes sea-rescue search for Bangladeshi crew
Phuket Gazette


The Royal Thai Navy this morning resumed their rescue search for the missing crew from the stricken cargo ship MV Hope. Photo: Royal Thai Navy

PHUKET: -- Officers from the Royal Thai Navy Phuket base resumed their search this morning for 11 crewmen still missing from the Bangladeshi cargo ship MV Hope, which remains foundering in the Andaman Sea south of Phuket.

“We sent out two helicopters and the HTMS Pattani at 6am,” Capt Thammawat Malaisukkarin, Director of the Naval Civil Affairs told the Phuket Gazette.

“The sea is calm today. These are good conditions for conducting the search,” he said.

The search team will focus on a target area of 10 nautical miles from the ship.

However, today may be the final day of the search mission.

“If we cannot find the crew today, we might call off the mission. We don’t think people can survive more than 24 hours at sea,” Capt Thammawat said.

Strong waves overnight have pushed the MV Hope about 20 miles south of where it was spotted yesterday.

“The boat is not in a busy shipping lane, but we have informed all boats of the Hope’s location,” Capt Thammawat said.

Efforts to salvage the stricken vessel are also being considered.

“Officials from the Bangladesh embassy in Bangkok will come to the Navy base today to discuss what to do about the ship,” Capt Thammawat said.

“If the boat stays listing at sea, it might leak oil or worse. We will discuss this as soon as the embassy officials arrive,” he added.

“We will also contact the Hope’s operating company through the Bangladesh embassy to ask them what we can do until they arrange a salvage team,” Capt Thammawat explained.

So far crewman Adubagar Siddiue, 40, rescued yesterday afternoon (story here), and five crewmen picked up earlier by a passing ship are the sole survivors.

“Mr Siddiue is recovering well,” a staffer at Vachira Phuket Hospital told the Gazette this morning.

“We gave him antibiotics as his lungs are infected from choking on sea water,” she added.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/Phuket-Navy-resumes-sea-rescue-search-for-Bangladeshi-crew-21551.html


-- Phuket Gazette 2013-07-05

[webfact]

Two survivors found after Bangladesh ship capsize off Phuket
Tanyaluk Sakoot

PHUKET: Two survivors were found this afternoon (July 5) in the area where the cargo ship MV Hope capsized yesterday morning.

This follows the news that two bodies were also found today, leaving seven members of the Hope’s crew still unaccounted for.

No other details are available about the two survivors or the two dead.

The two bodies were found by the German container ship Buxmoon and then transferred to the Royal Thai Navy offshore patrol vessel Pattani.

The Buxmoon has already rescued five live crew members, yesterday, from one of the Hope’s lifeboats.

The identities of the two dead men found this afternoon have not yet been confirmed but it seems likely they are from the Hope.

The ship had 17 officers and crew on board when it began to struggle in heavy seas that repeatedly hit it side-on.

Abubager Siddique, 50, a deck hand on the Hope – who had joined the ship just three months before – was plucked from sea by a Royal Thai Navy helicopter and flown to Phuket, where he is now being treated in Vachira Phuket Hospital.

Apart from five crew who made it to one of the ship’s lifeboats, and Mr Siddique, who was saved by the helicopter, the remaining crew members have yet to be found.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/two-survivors-found-after-bangladesh-ship-capsize-in-phuket-40684.php


-- Phuket News 2013-07-05

[webfact]

UPDATE: One more survivor found after Phuket ship disaster
The Phuket News

PHUKET: -- One more survivor from the Bangladeshi cargo ship MV Hope was found alive this afternoon (July 5) and was flown to Phuket after floating in a life jacket in the Andaman Sea for some 36 hours.

So far, of the 17 officers and crew on the ship, two have been found dead but nine are alive. Six are still unaccounted for.

Apart from Abubagar Siddique, rescued yesterday, the identities of the other crew members found, dead or alive, have not been released.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/update-one-more-survivor-found-after-phuket-ship-disaster-40690.php


-- Phuket News 2013-07-06