A 75-year-old pensioner survived two days floating in the sea during storms that sank a navy warship in Thailand.

Somkiat Chanpakdee, 75, was fishing in a small wooden longtail motorboat when the choppy seas flipped his vessel several miles off the coast of Surat Thani on December 17.

The elderly man had no life jackets in his flimsy trawler but he used a rope to tie himself to parts of the wreckage, which were floating on the surface. A search operation was launched when he failed to return home and miraculously he was rescued on December 19 in the morning,

Somkiat was immediately carried up on a jetski and hauled onto a rescue boat to return to the mainland, where villages changed his wet clothes and gave him fresh food and water.

Somkiat said: ‘Huge waves crashed into the boat and the next thing I knew I was already thrown out in the water.

'I tried my best to not panic and I swam back to the boat. I then tied my body to the wreckage and floated through the night.

'Nobody would be able to survive such huge waves for hours if they have nothing to hold on to. I knew I had to tie myself to the wood, because if I did die, at least they should be able to find my body.

'I was sleepy and hungry but I resisted it. I was afraid that if I slept I would never wake again. The moment I saw the rescue boats, I was so happy.

'I remember thinking to myself ‘I survive, I survive'.'

The rescue came amid deadly storms in southern Thailand and Malaysia, with four-metre-high waves battering vessels caught at sea during the torrential weather.

The HTMS Sukhothai was carrying 105 military personnel to a ceremonial event when water entered its hull and splashed into the electrical system some 20 nautical miles off the Bang Saphan district in Prachuap Khiri Khan province on December 18 evening.

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.

Six of the crew have been found dead, 76 have been rescued and 23 remain missing, as of December 23. Officials are focusing on Chumphon province, where they believe ocean currents and prevailing winds will have washed the 23 seamen who remain missing.

Bungling naval chiefs have since admitted that there were not enough life vests on the ship for all the people onboard.

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.

Thailand is notorious for its corruption, cover-ups and disturbing disregard for health and safety.