Thai Navy searching for crew of Bangladesh's capsized ship

BANGKOK, July 4 (TNA) - Royal Thai Navy officers have been searching for missing crew members of a Bangladeshi cargo ship which was capsized in the Andaman Sea, off Thailand's southern resort Phuket province, on Thursday morning. The cargo ship, named MV Hope, reportedly ran into trouble in the rough sea, some 32 kilometres off the Raja Isle of Phuket, while it was heading for Bangladesh's Chittagong Port. According to the Thai Navy Chief of Staff, Region 3, 17 crew members were confirmed to be on board the troubled Bangladeshi cargo ship, five of them were first rescued by a nearby Bangladeshi cargo ship and were returning to their country, while the sixth was later assisted by a Thai Navy helicopter and was sent to a hospital in Phuket. The Thai Navy Chief of Staff, Region 3, acknowledged that the 11 missing crew members had not been located after several hours of searching, as high waves in the Andaman Sea, as high as five metres, off Phuket had made the rescue mission very difficult. (TNA)