One Female Passenger Dead and One Missing After Tour Boat Sinks in Front of Busan Taejongdae Coast

Busan Coast Guard Dispatches Helicopter and Rescue Boat, Continues Search Operations Through Night

Busan Coast Guard helicopter and rescue boat are conducting search operations at the site where cruise ship passengers went missing. [Image source=Busan Coast Guard]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Two cruise ship passengers fell into the sea off Taejongdae in Busan, with one found dead. Search operations for the other person are continuing late into the night.

According to the Busan Coast Guard on the 28th, a report was received at around 4:56 PM that two passengers had fallen into the sea off Taejongdae in Yeongdo-gu.

They were passengers on a cruise ship passing in front of Taejongdae, identified as a woman in her 60s, Ms. A, and a woman in her 30s, Ms. B.

The cruise ship weighs 379 tons and can carry up to 303 passengers, but at the time of the accident, there were only about 10 people on board.

This cruise ship departs from the pier at Jagalchi Market in Jung-gu and is a popular Busan Port sightseeing route that tours areas such as Songdo and Taejongdae for about an hour and a half.

The Coast Guard dispatched patrol vessels, rescue boats, an aviation unit, and the Central Maritime Special Rescue Team. They began a sea search and found Ms. B at around 5:50 PM, one hour after the disappearance.

Ms. B was immediately taken to a hospital after being rescued but ultimately passed away.

It is reported that Ms. B was not wearing a life jacket at the time she was found.

The Busan Coast Guard is conducting nighttime search operations to find the missing person.

A Coast Guard official stated, “We are designating the search area using the rescue drift prediction system and conducting focused searches, employing various equipment to locate the missing person mainly around the accident site.”

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