By Thai Newsroom Reporters
THE NAVY HAS PUT an open bidding on hold for the planned retrieval of the sunken navy corvette HTMS Sukhothai (FSG-442) from under the sea off Prachuap Khiri Khan for the time being.
The navy had earlier held the bidding twice for a private firm, either Thai or foreign, to retrieve the sunken navy ship from under the sea off the western coastal province, given a sum of 200 million baht in funding, but no private bidder has yet been awarded the project due to failure to meet qualification specs, according to Naval Fleet Commander Adm.Chartchai Thongsaard.
Attending the open bidding on the undersea retrieval project were United State, Chinese and Thai firms, none of which has passed the navy’s qualification specs as yet. The Naval Fleet commander did not comment on how soon a third bidding may be held among the interested parties.
Meanwhile, the US Navy plans to join the Thai navy in a light salvage mission to retrieve some weapon systems and equipment aboard the US-built vessel which capsized and sank under the stormy sea in Dec., 2022.
Adm.Chartchai confirmed the light salvage mission will be conducted as part of the Cobra Gold 2024 scheduled between Feb.27 and Mar.10 in Thailand under which a team of 20 US navy divers will join a team of 40 Thai navy divers to work on the sunken ship.
The light salvage mission is by no means designed to retrieve the whole vessel from under the sea but some weapon systems and equipment aboard for analytic research on their function and possible causes of the incident which claimed 24 fatalities and five missing sailors.
Taking part in the mission are the Thai navy corvette HTMS Rattanakosin (FSG-441) and the US navy tugboat Ocean Valor, among other vessels.
CAPTION:
HTMS Sukhothai that sank in the Gulf of Thailand on Dec. 18, 2022. Top photo: Sanook.com, Front Page photo: Thai Rath
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