SEOUL – One person was confirmed dead and three others went missing Saturday after two fishing boats carrying 15 crew members ran aground in waters off South Korea’s southern resort island of Jeju, according to Yonhap news agency.
It was reported to the coast guard at about 9:24 a.m. local time (0024 GMT) that a 32-ton fishing vessel with seven people on board and a 29-ton vessel carrying eight were stranded in waters off the island.
Twelve people were rescued around noon (0300 GMT), and three remained unaccounted for.
Among the rescued, a captain of the 32-ton vessel in his 50s was taken in cardiac arrest to a hospital while receiving first-aid treatment such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), but he died later.
The others showed symptoms of hypothermia, but it was not a life-threatening injury.
The captains of both vessels were South Koreans, while the other crew members were foreigners, such as Vietnamese and Indonesians.
Search and rescue operations had been underway for the missing three crew members.
XINHUA
