Bangkok - (AFP) - The Royal Thai Navy announced that it had found six more bodies on Saturday, bringing its number to 12, six days after its ship sank, while 17 crew members are still missing.

The warship "HTMS Sukhothai" sank on Sunday night, about thirty kilometers off the coast of Pang Sapan (south), which launched a massive rescue operation, during which 76 crew members were rescued.

The Royal Navy said in a statement that it had recovered six bodies during the day on Saturday, which showed "preliminary data" that they were members of the crew, to be subjected later to a DNA analysis.

Last week, the bodies of six crew members were recovered.

The Navy added that several warships, patrol planes and helicopters have been deployed to the search area with the support of local agencies, volunteers and the private sector.

Admiral Chonlates Navanoograha said Tuesday that the incident was "one of the worst tragedies" in the history of the navy.

The rampage of the sea and the height of the waves, "three meters high", according to one of the survivors, contributed to damaging the ship's electrical system and making it "out of control" of the crew, according to the navy.

The crew tried to pump water out of the ship, but the flow was too strong, causing the ship to sink at a depth of 40 metres.

The US-made HTTPS Sukhothai was commissioned in 1987, according to the US Naval Institute Research Center.