The Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Coast Guard searched the headquarters of HMM and KCC in connection with an incident in which three divers cleaning the underside of a ship underwater were killed or injured.

The Changwon Branch of the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Changwon Coast Guard said on the 17th that they are securing contract-related documents and PCs through searches of HMM, KCC, and others.

On July 20, three divers performing underside cleaning work on a container ship off Busan New Port near Jinhae District, Changwon, South Gyeongsang, are reported to be in cardiac arrest and are being transported by fire authorities. /Courtesy of Yonhap News

The ministry said, "We plan to closely examine whether health measures to prevent the divers' fatal accident were appropriate," and noted, "We will strictly investigate whether there were violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Serious Accidents Punishment Act."

Earlier, on Jul. 20, an accident occurred in which two divers died and one was injured while cleaning the underside of a ship underwater that was moored at a pier in Jinhae, South Gyeongsang Province.

The divers were affiliated with a small and midsize company providing underwater construction diving technical services, and they entered the sea to remove barnacles attached to the bottom of a large HMM container ship when their air-supply hoses became tangled, causing the accident. The work at the time was reportedly subcontracted by building materials company KCC.

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