13 dead, two missing after collision off Incheon
13 dead, two missing after collision off Incheon
The fishing boat "Seonchang-1", 9,77 gt, collided with the Myeongjin-15 (명진15), 336 gt, in the waters off Incheon in the morning of Dec 3, 2017, killing 13 people out of the 22 on board the fishing boat. Most were trapped inside the cabin. The authorities recovered 20 out of 22 people on the fishing boat but 13 of them died. The seven rescued remained hospitalized. Four had been thrown into the sea, some survived by grabbing styrofoam floating around. They drifted in the sea about 15 minutes before being rescued by the crew of the bunker tanker. Three more were rescued in an air pocket inside the overturned boat after one and a half hours at 7.43 a.m. by specially trained divers. Two people, including the 70-year-old captain of the boat, surnamed Oh, were still missing. The two vessels were in the waters south of the Yeongheung Bridge which connects Yeongheung Island to Seonjae Island southwest of Incheon when they crashed around 6:09 a.m. one mile south of the bridge. The fishing boat left Jindu Port of Yeongheung Island at 6 a.m. The tanker crew of four was not injured nor was their ship damaged, while the fishing boat capsized and drifted bottom up in the sea. Police got to the scene at 6:42 a.m. 19 vessels of the South Korean Coastguard and Navy, among them the frigate "Chungbuk" and Navy divers, as well as five aircraft including helicopters were dispatched to the site. President Moon Jae-in ordered the marine police, Navy and fishing boats nearby to do all they could to rescue the people. On the whole 39 vessels and eight aircraft were dispatched to search for the two missing. Authorities were questioning the crew of the bunker tanker vessel to determine the cause of the collision. The maritime police suspected the two vessels collided while trying to pass each other on the narrow waterway between the piers of Yeongheung Bridge. The fishing boat’s business was legally registered and that it had followed the normal legal procedures in setting sail. The wreck was meanwhile righted by a crane and deposited on a quay for a thorough search.