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| Korea Coast Guard officers rescue crewmembers from a capsized boat near a laver farm off the coast of Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, Monday. / Yonhap |
By Lee Suh-yoon
A 24-ton fishing vessel with a crew of 14 sank off the coast of Mara Island, located just southwest of Jeju Island, around 6:05 a.m., Monday.
Most crewmembers managed to escape, with the Korea Coast Guard finding four of them on the ship's lifeboat and nine in the nearby waters. One still remains missing. Two of the 13 rescued crewmembers were pronounced dead on their arrival to a Jeju hospital, and another died shortly after admittance.
One crewmember sent a distress call at 6:40 a.m., which was picked up by a nearby boat, saying the vessel was likely to capsize. The crew on the other boat witnessed the capsizing at around 7:19 a.m.
In a separate incident the same day, another boat capsized near a laver farm off the coast of Gunsan, North Jeolla Province.
Coastguards found the vessel at 7:57 a.m. Two Russian crewmembers were rescued, while a 70-year-old Korean sailor surnamed Park eventually died after an unsuccessful CPR attempt. Park was unconscious and in cardiac arrest when the coastguards found him tied to the boat; the Russian crew said they tied him to the boat to prevent his body from floating away on the waves. Two more crew members remain missing.
The boat was reported missing at 11:09 p.m. the previous day, after it failed to return to port. The rescued sailors are being treated at a nearby hospital and the Coast Guard is continuing its search for the two missing sailors.
The causes of the two accidents remain unclear, but the authorities suspect unusually high waves.
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon ordered the relevant ministries and the Coast Guard to employ all resources to search for the missing.
According to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, 10,991 marine accidents have occurred in the last five years. A third of them happen in autumn (September to November), the peak fishing season.
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