Phuket Governor Nirat Pongsitthaworn confirmed that the cargo ship SEALLOYD ARC, a 4,339-ton vessel en route from Malaysia to Bangladesh, began listing and taking on water before going down about three nautical miles south of Laem Phromthep on Saturday (Feb 7).
Officials were alerted to the incident at about 5:53pm and immediately instructed all relevant agencies to prioritise the rescue of the 16 crew members on board and prepare oil spill containment measures.
“All 16 crew members were rescued safely and brought ashore before the vessel went down,” Mr Nirat said, adding that there were no reported injuries.
The crew were evacuated by patrol boat T.272, vessels from the Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Centre Region 3 (Thai-MECC 3), as well as local fishing boats, and taken to Chalong Bay Pier.
Governor Nirat confirmed the ship was carrying 297 containers, 14 of which contained hazardous materials. All containers went down with the vessel.
Governor Nirat and Thai-MECC 3 Director Vice Admiral Veerudhom Muangchin conducted an aerial survey by helicopter yesterday (Feb 8) to assess the extent of the slick and determine containment and clean-up measures.
The survey identified an oil slick about 4.5 nautical miles (8.33km) long and nautical one mile wide (1.82km), Gov Nirat said.
The oil slick was drifting westwards, away from Phuket’s coastline, he added.
Thai-MECC 3 has established an incident command centre at its Phuket headquarters to coordinate the response, with Vice Admiral Veerudhom appointed as ‘Incident Commander’.
Naval vessels, aircraft, helicopters and drones have been deployed to monitor the slick, track drifting debris and assess ongoing risks to navigation and the marine environment. Eight floating containers have already been recovered, the Navy confirmed.
The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Centre Region 18 Phuket office has joined the incident command, deploying personnel along with a mobile lighting vehicle and a rapid-response rescue vehicle. Support has also been mobilised from local administrative organisations, private-sector partners, foundations and volunteer groups.
Although the vessel was foreign-flagged and not bound for Thailand, Gov Nirat said Phuket officials was closely monitoring potential impacts on marine resources, maritime safety and coastal communities.
“The situation is being closely monitored to prevent any negative impact on Phuket’s marine ecosystem and tourism,” he said.
The Phuket Marine Office has urged boat operators and fishermen to exercise caution in the area south of Laem Phromthep while containment and recovery operations continue.