Authorities said on Dec 5 they found the bodies of the two missing from the sinking of the "Seonchang-1" after the collison with the "MYeongjin-15". The search team found the boat's captain face down on a mudflat about three kilometers southwest of the accident site at about 9:40 a.m. In the afternoon, an SAR helicopter found the last missing, a 57-year-old touris on the coast about 2,2 kilometers southwest of the accident site. Now it was proved the accident cost the lives of 15 people, while seven people were rescued. Authorities arrested the 37 year old captain of the tanker, charging him with accidental homicide after he told police he saw the fishing boat before the collision and thought it would get out of the way on its own. He admitted that he made a mistake. The captain was in the wheelhouse of the tanker at the time of the collision. The deck hand, who was supposed to be with the captain to look out for possible dangers on the waters, was down in the engine room at the time of the collision. A hearing for a detention warrant on the two was held on Dec 5. Authorities have not yet specified which vessel may be more responsible for the collision. Juding from the photos of the vessels, it looked like the prow of the oil tanker collided with the port-side stern of the fishing boat. The wreck was taken to shore in the morning of Dec 4, and authorities began investigating the boat to determine the cause of the collision. The relatives of the victims who want to take part in the investigations have been allowed to be at the site with the investigators. The timing of the rescue operation has raised some suspicion over whether authorities got to the scene as soon as they could. The accident took place at 6:09 a.m. A high-speed boat full of police got to the scene in some 30 minutes, but it was not carrying any divers to rescue people inside the capsized boat. The marine police rescue team from Incheon, including divers, got to the scene 1,5 hours after the collision. The team had two high-speed boats but one of them was out of service and another without a radar system, which made it impossible to sail in the dark. The team had to drive on the road some 50 kilometers to the closest port to the accident site and get on a private boat to reach the site. Inside the boat, the team found 14 people. Of these, 11 were dead. The three who survived did so by relying on air pockets inside the capsized boat. The team found two more dead in the water. Autopsy tests on the bodies to find out their exact causes of death were to be carried out on Dec 6.
ACCIDENTS
05 December 2017 - 16:00
Update: 06 December 2017 - 19:09
Last two missing of collision recovered dead - tanker captain arrested
Last two missing of collision recovered dead - tanker captain arrested
ACCIDENTS
05 December 2017 - 16:00
Update: 06 December 2017 - 19:09
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