One crewman feared dead
The Thai cargo ship Heron and the Honduran oil tanker
Playboy 3 collided in international waters, about 32 miles from Sattahip’s
Chuang Island on September 12 at approximately 6:50 a.m. One crewman from the
Playboy 3 went missing and is feared dead.
After
colliding with the Heron, Playboy 3 slowly sank in the Gulf of Thailand, about
32 miles from Sattahip’s Chuang Island.
The Heron, a 12,000-ton Thai cargo ship captained by
Namtapon Tanpraphan, was carrying rice. The Playboy 3 was carrying 200,000
liters of diesel fuel from Honduras.
The Royal Thai Navy dispatched a cruiser and a submarine
from Naval Region 1 to investigate the accident. When they arrived on the
scene, the Playboy 3 was already mostly submerged, with only the bow of the
ship above the surface of the water. Sister ships Playboy 1 and Playboy 6 were
in the area lending assistance.
The accident occurred in an area where the depth of the
water was about 30 meters. Eight crewmembers from the Playboy 3 were rescued.
Divers were looking for the ninth crewmember; however, rescuers fear he is
already dead.
There were no signs of diesel fuel in the vicinity, as the
ocean currents had most likely already carried the spill away.
The cause of the collision is still under investigation and
whether the diesel fuel aboard Playboy 3 was illicit fuel or not has yet to be
determined.
The fate of the Heron was not released. Story Courtesy of http://www.pattayamail.com/
