Nine missing as South Korean fishing boat capsizes
Nine people have been reported missing after a fishing boat capsized off South Korea’s southwestern coast on Saturday night, authorities said.
A statement on Sunday by the South Korean Interior Ministry said the 24-ton vessel overturned in waters off the coast of Sinan county late Saturday night, adding that rescue workers were searching by sea and air for the missing persons
Three crew members were rescued by a nearby boat, but nine others, including two foreigners, remained missing,” the ministry said in the statement.
More than a dozen vessels and three aircraft from the coastguard and the navy had been deployed to search for the missing people.
Most of the crew are believed to have left the capsized boat, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing Interior Minister Lee Sang-min.
President Yoon Suk-yeol has also urged maximum efforts for the rescue operation, ordering the mobilization of “all available resources” to widen the search area, his office said in a later statement.
