South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reports that seven people are confirmed to have died after a fishing vessel capsized in the waters off the southeastern city of Gyeongju on Monday, December 9.
The incident occurred at around 05:43 local time on Monday when the 29-tonne fishing vessel Geungwang collided with a 456-tonne barge carrying a cargo of sand. The fishing vessel then overturned with its crew of eight still on board six kilometres off the coast.
After learning of the incident, the Korea Coast Guard immediately deployed divers, 15 vessels, and six helicopters to the area as part of the search and rescue (SAR) effort.
Coast guard SAR teams eventually located seven crewmembers inside the overturned fishing vessel. These seven individuals were found suffering from cardiac arrest and were then transported to hospital, where they were later pronounced deceased.
Geungwang's crew at the time of the incident included three South Koreans and five foreign nationals. One crewmember, identified as an Indonesian national, remains unaccounted for, coast guard officials said.
No injuries have meanwhile been reported among the 10 crewmembers on the barge.
The incident is the fourth fatal fishing vessel capsizing to occur in South Korean waters since the beginning of the year. Monday's capsizing and the three separate incidents that occurred in March, September, and November have a combined death toll of at least 16.
