This fishing boat was tilted at about 15 degrees from the time of departure.
The sailors who returned alive reported the situation at the time of the accident, saying that the boat capsized in an instant.
Reporter Kim Jin-sun met the sailors.
◀ Report ▶
It was around 11:20, about three hours after the Qingbo had departed.
The water in the boat started to rise.
Soon, calls to 112 and the Mokpo Fishing Vessel Safety Bureau followed for rescue.
[목포어선안전조업국 관계자]
″The phone number was the captain’s. I’m in the middle of a flood, so please notify the coast guard to rescue me quickly.”
The coast guard identified the location of the accident vessel and requested rescue from ships passing nearby.
About 40 minutes later, the Gwangyang Frontier arrived at the scene of the accident and rescued the three crewmen who were holding out on the overturned boat.
[이형근/광양프론티어호 선장](Rescue Merchant Ship)
″I was shaking a lot and a little too much to the point where I couldn’t communicate. I’m getting hypothermia.”
The sailors who woke up recognized that there was a problem with the blue protection, but the water quickly filled up.
The surroundings were pitch-dark, and all the electricity on the ship went out, and the machinery and equipment did not work.
[청보호 선원]
″When I checked, it was the worst situation, and all electricity was cut off because the engine room was flooded with water…″
The sailors who did not even hear the escape instructions had no way to do anything.
The fishing boat loaded with traps and other fishing gear had tilted to the left about 15 degrees from the time it started, and the boat capsized in an instant right after the water entered.
[청보호 선원]
″It started leaning and within 10 minutes, I checked and within 10 minutes it was stranded.″
The surviving crew members followed six other crew members as they escaped and returned to the stern area, adding that their fate was unknown after that.
In addition, for reasons unknown to a ship built less than a year ago, water was filled from the engine room, raising the possibility that it capsized.
This is Kim Jin-sun from MBC News.
