1 Killed, 52 Remain Missing Hours After A South Korean Fishing Boat Sinks In Bering Sea
Dozens missing after Oriong-501 sank in Bering Sea off coast of Russia’s Chukotka region
By Sadho Ram — 02 Dec 2014, 09:45 AM — Updated almost 10 years ago
Oryong 501, a South Korean fishing vessel sank off Russia's far east coast in the western Bering Sea on Monday, 1 December. The ship was carrying 60 people, including one Russian inspector, 11 South Koreans, 35 Indonesians and 13 Philippine crew members.
The South Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said 60 people had been on board the 36-year-old ship: 35 Indonesians, 13 Filipinos, 11 South Koreans and one Russian inspector.
nytimes.com
As per reports, seven crew members were rescued and a body of a Korean sailor was recovered but 52 people still remain missing
The crew member found dead was a South Korean, a ministry official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the government had not yet made a formal announcement. The Russian, one Filipino and five Indonesians were rescued, said Sajo Industries, the South Korean company that operated the ship.
nytimes.com
Rescuers searched on Monday for more than 50 people missing after a large South Korean fishing boat they were working on sank amid high waves in the freezing waters of the Bering Sea, officials said. At least one person died.
wsj.comAs per officials, the 2,100-ton ship was 35-years-old
The ship was believed to have run into trouble when a wave hit as the crew was hauling in its catch, flooding the boat’s storage chambers with seawater, said Lim Chae-ok, an executive at Sajo Industries.
Those who were rescued were in a life raft, he said.
Others were believed to have jumped into the sea with life jackets on, Mr. Lim said. The water was 14 degrees Fahrenheit, he added.
nytimes.com
The boat sent no distress signal before the incident, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. Meanwhile, the South Korean foreign ministry said it asked Russian officials to work quickly to rescue the other crew members.
Authorities in the Russian port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky said the rescued fishermen were well and would be taken to South Korea once the weather improves.
“The condition of the fishermen who were rescued is fine,” Artur Rets, chief of the rescue center at the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky port, told the RIA Novosti news agency. “They are currently on the ship that rescued them. They will stay there until the weather improves and South Korea decides how to get them out of here. In the likeliest scenario, they will be picked up by a Korean vessel that is out fishing nearby.”
The rescue operation was continuing, Mr. Rets said.
The ship, owned by Sajo Industries, left for the Bering Sea from a port in Busan, South Korea, in earlier this year on 10 July
The ship left for the Bering Sea from a port in Busan, South Korea, in July. It was one of six South Korean trawlers allowed to catch a total of 40,000 tons of pollock this year under a fisheries deal with Russia.
Pollock is one of the most popular fish species in South Korea. After overfishing depleted its stock in waters near South Korea, the country has relied on fishing in the Bering Sea.
nytimes.com
At the time of the sinking, the waves were more than 13 feet high and the water temperatures were below 14 degrees Fahrenheit
Russia allows South Korean fishermen to fish in its waters for pollock, cod, Pacific saury, squid and other fish. In a meeting in April in Seoul, the two countries agreed to set this year’s quota for pollock fished in Russian waters at 40,000 tons, according to a fisheries ministry official.
wsj.com