By Chung Min-uck
Seoul repatriated three North Korean sailors rescued Friday in the aftermath of a cargo ship accident off South Korea’s coast via the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, Sunday.
Two dead bodies of North Korean sailors who drowned during the accident were also returned home, according to the Ministry of Unification.
The move comes following Pyongyang’s Saturday call for “concerned parties” to rescue the missing sailors who have been missing since a cargo ship with 16 North Koreans aboard sank off the southwestern coast of South Korea the previous day.
The Mongolian-flagged 4,300-ton boat, named Grand Fortune 1, ran aground at around 1 a.m. on Friday, some 74 kilometers off the coast of Yeosu, South Jeolla Province.
Of the 16 crew members aboard the ship who were all North Koreans, 11 are still missing besides the two who were found dead and the three rescued on the day of accident.
The South Korean Coast Guard is still continuing its search for the missing North Korean sailors.
In a Saturday report, the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) confirmed that the accident occurred in waters off South Korean coastline en route to Shanghai, China.
The KCNA said that the sailors aboard the boat are members of Kunhae Shipping Company under the Maritime Administration.
As of Sunday, the Coast Guard said that its search operations are ongoing and it also has requested help from its Japanese counterpart.