A 79-ton fishing boat sank after colliding with a liquefied petroleum gas carrier off Busan on Thursday, leaving the South Korean captain dead and two Indonesian crew members missing.
According to the Ulsan Coast Guard, the collision occurred at 10:10 a.m. All eight crew members — two South Koreans and six Indonesians — were thrown into the sea. The LPG carrier rescued six, but the two Indonesian nationals in their 30s remain unaccounted for.
The 62-year-old South Korean skipper was taken to a hospital but pronounced dead at 1:30 p.m. The other five rescued crew members were treated for hypothermia. The Coast Guard has deployed patrol vessels and helicopters to search for the missing.
President Lee Jae Myung ordered all available resources mobilized for the rescue after receiving a briefing. The Coast Guard plans to question the rescued crew and those on the LPG carrier to determine the cause.
