PHUKET: Relieved that his crew were all alive after a dramatic rescue from rocks off Phuket, the captain of the cargo boat Sinaran Andaman told of the shipwreck exclusively to Phuketwan today.

The anchor chain was not long enough to hit the bottom 30 metres down as Indonesian Selamet Waluto, 50, tried to save his ship.

Frantic calls were made to the owners of the vessel in Malaysia.

Eventually, the power failed and the ship hit the rocks off Koh Hey island, a popular day-trip destination - in good weather.

''The steering and both engines malfunctioned and the ship was not under control,'' Captain Selamet told Phuketwan at Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket City.

He and the nine crew were being examined after being plucked to safety by the Royal Thai Navy and Marine Police as the 793-tonne vessel sank beneath the pounding waves on the rocks.

By the time the crew was safely off - three lifted into Navy helicopters and the rest plucked to safety onto a Marine Police vessel - waves were washing across the deck of the cargo ship.

Containers, swept overboard, were crashing onto the rocks nearby.

Captain Selamet said that he was carrying the cargo of squid and fish from Myanmar (Burma) to Penang when the vessel was struck by ''very high waves.'' Speed was reduced to 2.5 to 3 knots.

Then the engines failed at 6.55am and the waves pushed the vessel towards the rocks of Koh Hey. The vessel was 12 and a half nautical miles south west of Phuket, he said.

''At 9.35 our anchor touched the sea bed but by then we were just 25 metres off Koh Hey,'' he said.

The generator battery blacked out and with it the ability to communicate with other ships.

In a remarkably successful rescue, the Royal Thai Navy helicopters airlifted Indonesian crew Riswanto and Kabil and Burmese Aung Myo Thu to the base at Cape Panwa. Marine Police managed to bring the captain and the other crew on board.

Carried back to shore by Marine Police were Indonesians Adi We Caksono, Bambang Gunagan, and Aras Bin Ramli along with Burmese Thein Than Zaw, Pyao Phyo Aung and Nan Myo Aung.

The Royal Thai Navy also managed to rescue six crew - five men and a woman - who sent out a distress call.

By the time HTMS Chonburi reached the fishing boat, the crew were barely visible because the vessel had gone under and they were clinging to pieces of floating equipment.

There were no life vests on board.

Those six were taken to the Phuket Provincial Administration Hospital in eastern Phuket City for medical checkups.

Still missing, though, is the barge with six crewmen that disappeared in the strong storms off Phuket the previous day while sailing to Racha island with a load of construction material.

When last in contact, the captain told his wife the crew were trying to strap together an improvised raft from empty water containers and other equipment.

Officials have yet to assess what will happen to the wrecked cargo vessel. It is Cambodian-registered with a Malaysian owner.