10 people dead, several missing from capsized boat

The death toll from a capsized fishing boat off the country's south coast increased to 10 Sunday, as several others remained unaccounted for, Yonhap quoted coast guard officials as saying.

The 9.77-ton boat Dolphin was found at around 6:25 a.m. near Chuja Island, north of the southern resort island of Jeju, according to the coast guard. The boat lost contact around 7:38 p.m. Saturday, about half an hour after it left Chuja for Haenam, South Jeolla Province.

Three people have been rescued and flown by helicopter to a hospital in Jeju.

"Of the 22 people on the list of people on board, 13 were confirmed to have been aboard, four were confirmed not to have boarded, while one of the survivors was not on the list," Lee Pyung-hyun, chief of the Jeju coast guard, said during a press briefing.

The exact number of people aboard the boat has yet to be determined, he said. No additional survivors or casualties were found inside the vessel.

Eight naval vessels, a Lynx helicopter and a P-3C maritime patrol aircraft have been dispatched to the site of the accident, according to a Navy official. In total, more than 50 naval and coast guard vessels have been mobilized in the search and rescue operations.

"We are carrying out search operations in a large circle around Seomsaengi Island, where the survivors were found," said a coast guard official, referring to an inhabited island south of Chuja. "Weather conditions are good, so the search is gaining momentum.

Source: MENA