"'Sinking Vessel' Je22 Seogyeongho Had No Time to Send Distress Signal... Coast Guard: 'Suddenly Tilted and Capsized'"

Four Dead Including Captain
Six Still Missing

It has been confirmed that the Je22 Seogyeongho, in which 4 people died and 6 went missing, suddenly tilted and sank without even having time to send a distress signal.

Yonhap News

The Yeosu Coast Guard stated in a briefing on the 9th, "According to the rescued Vietnamese crew members, it appears that the ship suddenly tilted severely to the left and capsized during navigation," adding, "Except for the 3 people inside the wheelhouse and other parts of the ship, the remaining 11 crew members all jumped into the sea." Among them, 5 swam naked to the liferaft that was deployed about 5 meters from the ship, while the other 6 remain missing.

It has not been determined who deployed the liferaft or whether it was automatically deployed. A surviving Vietnamese crew member said, "While resting, the ship suddenly stopped and shook, so I went to the wheelhouse, but everyone was already out, so I jumped into the sea."

The Je22 Seogyeongho was sailing in a fleet with four other vessels, but it is known that it did not send a distress signal to other fleet fishing boats or the coast guard. The coast guard estimated that the ship sank so suddenly that it could not even communicate. The ship's track according to the Automatic Identification System (AIS) was partially interrupted but was relatively normally detected.

The Je22 Seogyeongho, a large 139-ton trawl fishing vessel, departed from Gamcheon Port in Busan at 12:55 PM the previous day and was scheduled to return to Busan at 12:25 PM on the 23rd after catching hairtail and pomfret near Heuksando, Jeollanam-do.

The Coast Guard Central Rescue Headquarters, West Sea Coast Guard Wide-area Rescue Headquarters, and Yeosu Coast Guard Regional Rescue Headquarters have activated rescue teams by unit and are conducting search and rescue operations in the accident area together with the navy and others. Twenty-four patrol vessels, three vessels from related agencies, four navy ships, fifteen civilian vessels, and thirteen aircraft have been dispatched to the site for search operations.

In particular, the Navy's Gwangyang ship has been dispatched to the site and is using sonar (underwater acoustic detector) to locate the sunken hull. However, strong winds of 10 to 12 meters per second and swell waves about 2.5 meters high are causing difficulties near the accident site. At the time of the accident report, the wind was 12 to 14 meters per second, wave height was 2.5 meters, water temperature was 10.7 degrees Celsius, and the water depth was about 80 meters.

Although a storm warning was issued for the area, the coast guard explained that vessels over 30 tons were allowed to sail. The coast guard is investigating the exact cause with surviving crew members, considering that it is unusual for a ship over 100 tons to capsize in 2.5-meter waves despite unfavorable sea conditions.

A Yeosu Coast Guard official said, "According to the operation results of the seawater flow prediction system, the missing crew members may have drifted about 18 km from the accident site by 5 PM," adding, "We will continue night search operations with cooperation from the navy, including the use of flares."

The Je22 Seogyeongho lost contact around 1:41 AM that day about 17 km offshore from Habakdo, Samsan-myeon, Yeosu City. Four people including the captain died, and four crew members of Vietnamese and Indonesian nationality were rescued. Four survivors were transported to land to receive hospital treatment or are currently giving statements about the accident to the coast guard. The coast guard is continuing underwater and surface searches to find the remaining six missing persons.