The Phuket Provincial Port-In/Port-Out (PIPO) Control Centre received a report at 4:50am that a crew member from the fishing boat ‘Thepsiriporn 12’ had gone missing at sea.
According to the report, the incident occurred at about 3:50am, when the Phuket PIPO Centre was notified by the vessel’s raft clerk, named in the police report only as ‘Ms Kwan’, that a crewman had fallen overboard.
The centre then contacted the vessel’s captain, Nopadol Sangamnuay, who confirmed that the missing crewman was Zaw Min The, 32, a Myanmar national.
The incident is believed to have occurred while the vessel was not actively fishing, between about 9pm and 11pm. The captain reported that at about 1am he called the crew together to begin work but was unable to locate the missing man.
The vessel was operating at sea at approximately latitude 7°20.000’ north and longitude 98°35.00’ east when the crew member was believed to have fallen overboard.
After discovering the crewman was missing, the captain circled the area in an attempt to locate him and radioed nearby vessels equipped with generators to assist in the search, but no trace of the missing crewman was found.
The incident was then reported to authorities through the vessel’s clerk.
‘Thepsiriporn 12’ was expected to arrive at Phuket Fishing Port at about 8am today.
Officials from a multi-agency team will inspect the vessel upon arrival and interview the captain and relevant crew members as part of an initial investigation.