Korean sailors killed in bloody mutiny
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The Kwang Hyun 803 tuna trawler is seen at a port in Busan in this file photo. Two drunken Vietnamese crewmen allegedly killed the captain and an engineer during operations in waters off the coast of the Seychelles, Monday. / Yonhap
By Lee Kyung-min
Two Vietnamese crewmen allegedly killed their Korean captain and a Korean chief engineer aboard a deep-sea fishing vessel in waters off the coast of the Seychelles, authorities said Monday.
According to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the two, both 32, whose identities were withheld, stabbed to death the captain, surnamed Yang, 43, and the engineer, Kang, 42, at around 2 a.m. aboard the tuna trawler Kwang Hyun 803 operated by Kwangdong Shipping.
No other casualties were reported among the 18 fishermen aboard, including one more Korean crewman, eight Indonesians and seven Vietnamese aboard the 138 ton vessel.
The Korean navigator, surnamed Lee, 50, said the stabbing came shortly after the sailors shared two bottles of liquor given by the captain as a present for hard work.
Lee told the Korean coast guard that he was resting in his berth after a night shift, when one of the Indonesian crewmen came to him and said the captain was dead.
He said he found the captain dead covered in blood on the deck and the engineer in his berth.
Lee then found the two perpetrators holed up in a corner of the vessel, and fought with the two to disarm them. Lee and other crewmen confined the two assailants in a cabin. Lee reported the incident to the vessel’s operator in Busan, which relayed the message to the coast guard.
According to Lee, the two Vietnamese were hardworking, obedient sailors, except when they were drunk.
The vessel, navigated by Lee, is expected to arrive at the Port of Victoria in the Seychelles, in four days.
Korea’s maritime safety authority said it plans to set up a task force here and dispatch officers to the island country for further investigation.
“We suspect the killing was an impulsive act committed by two heavily intoxicated men but will investigate the details, including whether other crewmen were involved,” a Busan coast guard officer said.
The ministry and its affiliated organizations are communicating with the rest of the crew to closely monitor the situation on the vessel.
An official from Kwangdong Shipping, the operator of the vessel, and two bereaved family members of the captain and the engineer, said they will leave for the island nation today.