8 bodies found, 3 rescued after fishing boat capsizes in South Korea

Eight bodies have been found, and three people were rescued after a South Korean fishing boat capsized off the southern coast, local media reported Sunday citing the police.

The 9.77-ton boat Dolphin was found capsized at about 6:25 a.m. local time on Sunday near Chuja Island, north of the southern resort island of Jeju.

The boat lost communications around at 7:38 p.m. on Saturday, about half an hour after leaving Chuja for Haenam, South Jeolla.

As of 10 a.m. local time, eight bodies have been found in waters around Chuja, with only three rescued. The three have not been suffering from life-threatening injury. Another 3 people remain unaccounted for.

The exact passenger list had yet to be determined. Tens of coast guard ships and military vessels were mobilized for search operations, and divers are searching the possible bodies under waters.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has set up a control tower in the administrative city of Sejong to handle the maritime incident.

President Park Geun-hye instructed utmost efforts at the search and rescue operations, and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn held a meeting with ministers and vice ministers in Sejong to discuss the incident.

Source: XINHUA