Search continues for 52 missing

By Lee Ji-hye

Rescue operations for the Korean trawler that sank off Russia's far east continued throughout the night; however no additional people were rescued, reports said.

One Korean crew member died after being found due to hypothermia. At least 52 are missing after the Oryong 501 sank in the western part of the Bering Sea, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"Four vessels have carried out rescue and search operations over the night, but we could not find additional crewmen," an official told Yonhap News Agency Tuesday morning.

The trawler had carried 60 people in total: 11 Koreans, 35 Indonesians, 13 Filipinos, and one Russian inspector.

The headquarters explained that the search operations were deemed quite difficult, with cold temperatures, high winds and waves of more than 4 meters.

There are currently three boats searching for the missing crewmen, according to Yonhap.

Lim Chae-ok, an executive at Sajo Industries, the Korean company that operated the ship, told Yonhap that search operations had not been conducted underwater, because the “waves are too strong to calculate the tidal currents.”

A family member of a missing crewman was reported as saying, "The water temperature is below freezing, and the winds are so strong, which gives us all the more reason to be worried about how long they can hold on."

"The ship's company should use stop blaming weather conditions and use all their ships and rescue equipment for these rescue operations," the family member said.