A support vessel attached to a North Korean merchant ship sank on the 17th in international waters about 200 kilometers southeast of Homigot Cape in North Gyeongsang Province, and the Korea Coast Guard's East Sea Regional Headquarters is conducting a search-and-rescue operation for one person still missing.
The regional headquarters said it received a report from the Navy at about 10:52 a.m. that the support vessel had sunk and four crew members were missing. It requested search-and-rescue cooperation from the Japanese and Russian rescue coordination centers (RCC) and dispatched two coast guard patrol ships, an aircraft, a Navy vessel and a fisheries guidance ship to the site. It later confirmed information from the Japan Coast Guard that three people had been rescued at about 12:18 p.m.
The regional headquarters is continuing search-and-rescue operations to find the one remaining missing person.
"Although the accident occurred in international waters, we immediately deployed all available rescue assets in line with international and humanitarian principles that put saving lives first," said Lee Jong-wook, acting commissioner of the East Sea Regional Headquarters. "We will do our utmost in the search to find and rescue the missing person as soon as possible."
