On December 5, the authorities allegedly recovered the body of two sailors who had reportedly gone missing after a fishing vessel collided with a tanker.
What happened?
On December 3, thirteen people were reportedly dead and two missing after a fishing vessel and a bunker collided with each other. The fishing boat ‘Seonchang-1’ reportedly collided with a bunker ‘Myeongjin-15’ in the waters off Incheon. After the collision occurred, thirteen people out of twenty two people onboard the vessel were declared dead while two people were reported to be missing.
The vessels were in the waters south of the Yeongheung Bridge which connects Yeongheung Island to Seonjae Island southwest of Incheon when they crashed. During the collision, the fishing boat was heavily damaged and started drifting bottom up in the sea. The maritime police suspected the two vessels collided while trying to pass each other on the narrow waterway between the piers of Yeongheung Bridge.
Tanker captain arrested:
Authorities were questioning the crew of the bunker tanker vessel to determine the cause of the collision. The authorities reportedly discovered bodies of the two missing crew members from the sinking.
The accident has totally claimed the lives of 15 people, while seven people were rescued. Authorities have now arrested the 37 year old captain of the tanker, charging him with accidental homicide after he told police he saw the fishing boat before the collision and thought it would get out of the way on its own.
The captain was in the wheelhouse of the tanker at the time of the collision and the deckhand, who was supposed to be with the captain to look out for possible dangers on the waters, was down in the engine room at the time of the collision.
A hearing for a detention warrant on the two was held on December 5 and the authorities have not yet specified which vessel may be more responsible for the collision.
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Source: The Hankyoreh
