The search continued today for 21 missing crew members after a navy warship sank during a storm in southern Thailand.

Authorities are still scouring the sea for missing sailors aboard the HTMS Sukhothai, which overturned 20 miles off the coast of Prachuap Khiri Khan province on December 18.

A total of 106 crew were on the corvette. As of Monday afternoon, 10 of the 31 missing had been safely rescued, the Thai Navy said. There are believed to still be 21 missing at sea.

Seahawk and Dornier aircraft have also been deployed to speed up the ongoing search, which came during storm weather with four-metre high waves.

Officials said the HTMS Sukhothai corvette was on patrol some 20 nautical miles off the Bang Saphan district in the province when water entered its hull and splashed into the electrical system.

The leakage disrupted the vessel's controls and power supply, causing the ship to list at a 60-degree angle and sink at sea.

Two frigates and two helicopters were dispatched to assist the Sukhothai and evacuate the crew who were ordered to abandon ship.

Rough seas and powerful winds hampered efforts to salvage the Sukhothai corvette, which sank to the depths.

Three people were reported to be critically injured and rushed to the hospital.

The HTMS Sukhothai is one of two US-built Ratanakosin-class corvette commissioned in 1987.

It is one of the Thai Navy's seven corvettes, armed with an array of anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile launchers, a double-barrel machine gun, and several torpedo tubes.