Deep-Sea Diver and ROV Deployment Prevented Due to Bad Weather Conditions
There is a possibility that the missing persons from the Geumseongho sinking accident off the coast of Jeju are trapped in the nets and staying around the shipwreck.
Jeju Coast Guard vessels are conducting nighttime searches to find the missing persons. [Image source=Yonhap News]
On the 10th, the Jeju Regional Coast Guard announced in a briefing that they plan to conduct a search based on the possibility that the missing persons are around the sunken Geumseongho wreck underwater.
The Coast Guard explained that the missing person’s body found during the previous night’s search was identified as Korean crew member Deck Chief A (64), discovered at a depth of 92 meters on the seabed near the wreck by a Navy remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV). Considering the testimonies of the crew members rescued at the time of the accident, it was initially believed that two people?the cook and the fishing master?were inside the ship, in the galley and the wheelhouse. Therefore, it was predicted that if missing persons were found near the wreck, they would likely be these two. However, since A was found near the wreck instead of the cook or fishing master, it is now expected that the remaining missing persons are also staying around the wreck.
The Geumseongho was a large purse seine fishing vessel mainly catching mackerel and Spanish mackerel. At the time of the accident, the Geumseongho had gathered nets on the starboard side after catching mackerel and others. It is understood that the ship capsized and sank to the right due to the weight of the nets. The Coast Guard explained that as the hull completely flipped to the right, most of the crew who were on deck for work likely fell into the nets and became trapped.
The Coast Guard also raised the possibility that the missing crew sank to the seabed because of the waterproof work suits they were wearing during operations. A Coast Guard official said, "The waterproof work suits, which reach up to the chest of an adult, trap water underwater, making it difficult for the crew to escape from the water while wearing them, and they do not easily float up when descending below 30 meters depth." Ko Myung-cheol, head of the Jeju Regional Coast Guard’s Security Division, said, "We are keeping all possibilities open, including the chance that other missing persons are around the wreck, and we will do our best to search until the last missing person is found."
The Geumseongho sank completely after reporting it was "tilting" around 4:30 a.m. on the 8th in the sea about 22 km northwest of Biyangdo, Jeju. Of the 27 crew members on board (16 Koreans, 11 Indonesians), 15 were rescued by nearby vessels, but two Koreans died. The remaining 12 (10 Koreans, 2 Indonesians) were missing, but one of their bodies was first discovered during a night search on the 9th.
A Coast Guard official said, "We will continue search operations by deploying 10 deep-sea divers from a private salvage company capable of searching up to 100 meters depth and the Navy’s underwater search equipment, the remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV)," but since a storm warning is in effect in the southern sea of Jeju, the Coast Guard plans to monitor weather conditions around the accident site while conducting the search.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
