UPDATE -- Thai navy says 5 sailors dead, 24 missing after warship sinks

UPDATES WITH COMMENTS OF ROYAL THAI NAVY CHIEF; CHANGES HEADER, DECK

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – The Thai navy said on Tuesday that five sailors were dead while the search for 24 others is still underway after a warship sank in the Gulf of Thailand on Sunday night.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Navy Admiral Choengchai Chomchoengpaet​​​​​​​ told a news conference in Bangkok that 24 of the 105 crew members are still missing.

“Heavy waves flooded the ship,” he said, adding that a thorough investigation will reveal what happened prior to the incident that sank the HTMS Sukhothai warship.

The warship was over 36 years old, the navy chief added.

A massive rescue operation involving warships and helicopters was launched in search of the crew members of the HTMS Sukhothai warship, which sank off Prachuap Khiri Khan province, south of Bangkok, at around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday (1630GMT).

The corvette sank after a power failure and subsequent flooding 20 nautical miles (37 nautical kilometers) off the coast of the Bang Saphan district in central Thailand.

According to the navy, water "flowed into the electrical system," causing power outages and "major machines to stop working."