Coast Guard: "Doing Our Best in the Search"
Search Area Expanded
A couple in their 60s went missing while collecting oysters in the mudflats of Haenam-gun, Jeollanam-do, prompting a large-scale search by the Coast Guard. It is believed that they were trapped by thick fog and the incoming tide, but despite an overnight search, the authorities have not yet found the missing persons.
According to the Wando Coast Guard on the 2nd, a report was received from the family at around 8:52 p.m. the previous day that Mr. A (68) and his wife, Ms. B (63), had not returned home near Galdu Port in Songji-myeon, Haenam-gun. At the same time, a local resident also reported, "The husband is looking for his wife in the mudflats, and it looks dangerous."
The couple was captured on Galdu Port pier's CCTV around 3 p.m. that day, heading toward the mudflats with a handcart. At the aquafarm, only a cart believed to have been used by them was left behind. The mudflat where they were working is submerged by seawater depending on the tide, and the Coast Guard suspects that they may have failed to escape in the thick fog.
The Wando Coast Guard has deployed five vessels?including one patrol ship, one rescue team vessel, and three coastal rescue boats from the local police station?and 26 personnel to conduct a maritime search. On land, 44 people, including firefighters and local residents, are searching the surrounding area.
A Wando Coast Guard official said, "We are focusing our search on areas where the missing persons are most likely to be, using the tidal current prediction system."
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