Tag: fishing boat

Families of the dead and missing crew watch in despair as a capsized fishing boat is hoisted at a pier in Wando on March 3, 2018. The boat was found floating upside down in waters off the country’s southwest coast on Feb. 28. Two of the seven crew on board were found dead inside the boat, and the rest remain missing. (Yonhap)

The Chinese government has quite the nerve to complain about the use of firearms in law enforcement operations when they are the same people that gunned down thousands of protesters in Tiananmen Square:

China called in a senior South Korean diplomat to lodge a formal protest against the use of a machine gun to crack down on Chinese fishing boats, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesperson said Friday.

On Tuesday, South Korea’s Coast Guard fired 600-700 bullets from a ship-mounted M60 toward Chinese vessels that were violently interfering in the capture of two fishing boats operating illegally off the western port city of Incheon. No injuries or damage were reported.

China’s foreign ministry protested the “violent law enforcement methods used” via its spokesperson Hua Chunying during a regular press briefing.

“China is strongly against any use of violent measures by South Korea that threatens the safety of Chinese fishermen,” she said. The official added that illegal fishing should not be a reason for South Korean authorities, including its Coast Guard, to use firearms.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

A night of drinking on a South Korean fishing boat led to the murder of its captain and chief engineer in the Indian Ocean:

Korea Coast Guard officers have taken into custody two Vietnamese crewmen who allegedly killed the Korean captain and chief engineer of a fishing boat.

The detention was made at Port of Victoria in Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, Thursday night, as the Korean vessel arrived there four days after the alleged killings.

The coast guard officers are now bringing the suspects to Korea.

According to the coast guard, seven of its officers boarded the vessel, Kwang Hyun 803, with local police when a pilot was boarding around 10:10 p.m. local time. The coast guard gained control of the ship and had the vessel steered to the pier. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but the two suspects have been flown back to Korea from the Seychelles to be investigated.

Another mass casualty incident involving a Korean boat has occurred:

The Coast Guard, Navy and civilians combined their efforts Monday to search for eight people still missing from a capsized fishing boat off the country’s south coast but no progress was made, officials said.

The death toll from the accident stood at 10, with eight people still unaccounted for and three others rescued, the Korea Coast Guard said.

The 9.77-ton boat called the Dolgorae, or Dolphin, was found about 6:25 a.m. Sunday near Chuja Island, north of the southern resort island of Jeju, the maritime security agency said. The boat lost contact with another chartered fishing boat around 7:38 p.m. Saturday, about half an hour after it left Chuja for Haenam, South Jeolla Province, it said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

I understand how these families members are upset, but the sinking of the fishing boat off the coast of Russia that resulted in 53 people dead or missing is not going to get much attention in Korea because the vast majority of the people who died were foreigners.  Plus it happened so far out at sea where there was no news cameras compared to the Sewol ferry boat tragedy:

On a cold afternoon last month, a handful of demonstrators carried signs along a road in downtown Seoul, attracting little attention.

The lack of interest was troubling for the small group, whose loved ones disappeared on Dec. 1 when the Korean-owned trawler Oryong 501 sank in the Bering Sea off the coast of Russia.

Six Koreans were confirmed dead in the sinking of the 1,753-ton vessel; five others remain unaccounted for. In all, 27 men, including Filipinos and Indonesians, have been confirmed dead and 26 are listed as missing.

Some of the Korean family members want the owner of the ship, Sajo Group, held accountable, saying the company sent out a non-seaworthy boat and is evading its responsibilities. They also want the government to apologize for what they believe was lax monitoring of the firm.

“We demand that Sajo Group be punished for letting a malfunctioning fishing boat go out to sea; for an apology from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries; and a pledge that the ministry will properly supervise future ocean operations,” said Ko Jang-un, a representative for the families, whose brother has been confirmed dead.

Ma Sun-sook, who also lost her brother, said, “You can’t call it an accident if the sinking of the vessel was predictable.”  [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but the boat took on water during a bad storm and a bad water pump resulted in the boat not being able to extract the water and it sunk.  It had been known for months that the boat had a bad pump.  It seems to me the company is to blame more so than government regulators.