Thai sailors rescued from a sunken warship arrived by air back at their naval base on Monday evening December 19.

The seamen seen in the video were among those pulled from the sea when HTMS Sukhothai was hit by four-meter-high waves and sank off the coast of Prachuap Khiri Khan province at around 11.30 pm on Sunday night.

Footage shows them arriving on white navy planes at the barracks in Sattahip in Chonburi province shortly after 6 pm local time.

Navy officials said that 31 of the 106 crew onboard the vessel, a Rattanakosin class corvette, remained missing. Air and sea rescue operations are still ongoing across the Gulf of Thailand on Tuesday, December 20.

The HTMS Sukhothai was on patrol some 20 nautical miles off the Bang Saphan district in Prachuap Khiri Khan province on December 18 evening when water entered its hull and splashed into the electrical system. The leakage disrupted the vessel's controls and power supply leading to a blackout before the ship tilted 60 degrees to starboard and more water flooded in.

Records show that HTMS Sukhothai was built by Tacoma Boatbuilding Company, in Tacoma, Washington. It was commissioned in 1987 and had been operational for almost 36 years with air defence, sea combat and anti-submarine capabilities.