▲ The sinking point of 127 Ocean Lake. On the 23rd, the Coast Guard conducted a search for two days to find the three missing sailors on the 339t-class large-scale fishing boat 127 Ocean, which sank in the sea near Galgot-do, Geoje-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, but no results were achieved.
On the 24th, the Tongyeong Maritime Police Department announced that after the accident the day before, it expanded the search range to a radius of 20km and mobilized 7 aircraft, including 2 helicopters, and 21 patrol boats to search for the missing person.
On the second day of the accident, the coast guard had trouble searching because the storm warning went into effect. The wave rises high at a height of 2 to 3.5 m, and the wind blows strongly at 10 to 16 m per second.
A maritime police official said, “The weather was bad, so it was difficult to search for aircraft, such as maneuvering,” and said, “We are putting all our efforts into the search work so that the missing people can return to their families.”
On the 23rd at 3:45 p.m., the ocean was submerged in the 1.1 km southeast of Galgot Island, Nam-myeon, Geoje-si, and then sank, 7 out of 10 crew members were rescued, and 3 others, including the captain, disappeared.
Kim Mo, 41, who was rescued after fifty minutes after receipt of the report, said, “At the time of the accident, the waves hit high and the seawater quickly stormed into the ship.” At the time of the accident, all of the crew were wearing life jackets, and they tried to move the lifeboat on board the ship, but failed. No one was on the lifeboat that the coast guard discovered during the search process.
Captain Kim Mo (70) urgently sent a signal to the sea police at 3:45 p.m. on the 23rd that the ship was in danger through the VHF-DSC in the steering room.
The danger signal was received by the Tongyeong Coastal Marine Traffic Control Center (VTS), and the Coast Guard immediately contacted the captain, but there was no response.
The coast guard believes that the situation worsened, such as the sinking as the fishing boat was filled with water due to bad weather.
According to the Marine Vessel Accident Crisis Response Manual, the maximum survival time for a missing person in an ocean accident is 25 hours.
[거제 = 최승균 기자]
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