Photo : YONHAP News = Gunsan Coast Guard
Three people are dead after a fishing vessel capsized in waters off Gunsan city in North Jeolla Province.
The city’s coast guard said on Monday that it rescued all eight crew members of the fishing boat in waters off Gunsan after receiving a report at around 7:36 a.m. about the boat accident.
Authorities said though the entire crew was rescued, three of the members, including the boat’s Korean captain and chief engineer as well as a foreign crewmember, were pronounced dead at the hospital.
The remaining five crewmembers, all of foreign nationality, were reported to be in relatively good health.
The coast guard is looking into the possibility that the boat capsized after it collided with a tanker carrying petroleum products based on testimony that the tanker was witnessed passing nearby the fishing vessel at the time of the incident.
A coast guard official said the identity of the deceased foreign crewmember has yet to be identified, adding that an investigation will be conducted on the incident once the survivors get treated for the injuries.