Fire on Fishing Boat off Seogwipo, Jeju; All 6 Crew Rescued, 2 Dead...

The Coast Guard is approaching the Jeju-registered fishing vessel Gwanghaeho (9.77 tons), where a fire has broken out, to extinguish the flames. [Video capture provided by Jeju Seogwipo Coast Guard]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] At around 6 a.m. on the 9th, a fire broke out on the fishing vessel Gwanghaeho (Jeju-registered, 9.77 tons) 55 km southeast off Seogwipo, Jeju. All six crew members on board were rescued, but two of them died.

The Seogwipo Coast Guard received a report from fishing vessel A (Jeju-registered, gillnet) stating "black smoke is visible at sea" and immediately dispatched all available forces, including helicopters and patrol vessels, to the scene.

At around 6:54 a.m., while conducting a focused search around the vessel by helicopter, the Coast Guard found four crew members drifting while holding onto a buoy.

Then, an air rescuer descended using a helicopter hoist carrying a liferaft, swam to the crew members, and directly placed them on the liferaft to rescue them.

Meanwhile, the helicopter, during a separate aerial search, discovered one more drifting crew member, and subsequently, a patrol vessel launched a high-speed boat to search and rescued the remaining crew member.

The rescued captain Kim (59) and four other crew members were confirmed to be in good health, but two others, including Park (73), were found unconscious and were immediately transported to the hospital, where they died.

A Coast Guard official said, "Although liferafts are usually dropped from helicopters, accuracy can be low, so the rescue team member personally carried the liferaft and descended into the sea to rescue the crew." He added, "In particular, in this accident, the wisdom of the crew who gathered in one place holding onto the buoy shone."

The Coast Guard plans to investigate the exact cause of the fire with the crew members.

The fishing vessel departed Mosulpo Port, Seogwipo City, at around noon on the 3rd and went out to fish, but sank due to the fire on this day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.