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| A shoreline of Baengnyeong Island in waters of South Korea's west coast near the inter-Korean border. Korea Times file |
A Navy officer was found dead Saturday after going missing while on duty aboard a patrol boat off the western border island of Baengnyeong, according to the military authorities.
The chief petty officer disappeared at around 10 p.m. Friday in waters south of the island in the Yellow Sea, as the 450-ton "patrol killer" he was aboard was conducting night operations, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said
After an hours-long search operation, the officer's body was found at around 10 a.m. Saturday near the area where he went missing, and taken to the Navy's Second Fleet Command in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, the JCS added.
"An investigation is under way to find out the exact details of what happened, and all possibilities are being considered," a JCS officer said. "The Navy will take all necessary measures."
Weather conditions were unfavorable at the time of his disappearance, and he was last seen on closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) installed around the vessel at around 9:35 p.m. Around 40 service members were aboard the boat, according to the officer.
Earlier, the JCS said the military informed all related entities of the incident via international communication lines and mobilized multiple Navy and government vessels for search and rescue operations. North Korea is also connected to those lines.
In September last year, a South Korean government official went missing near the western border island of Yeonpyeong and reportedly drifted into the North Korean side of the Yellow Sea where he was shot and killed by the North's military.
The South Korean military came under fire for not appropriately communicating with North Korea over this issue, which could have prevented the tragedy. (Yonhap)
