The Korea Coast Guard launched a rescue operation after receiving a report at 8:16 p.m. on the 19th that a passenger ship had run aground at Jokdo, an uninhabited islet south of Jangsan-do in Sinan County, South Jeolla.
Nine patrol boats and a helicopter were dispatched. There were 246 passengers and 21 crew members on board the passenger ship, and no casualties have been identified so far. Patrol boats and rescue boats are transporting people in sequence to the Mokpo Coast Guard's dedicated pier.
The grounded passenger ship is the 26,546-ton Queen Zenobia 2. It departed Jeju that day and was heading to Mokpo, South Jeolla. It was reported that the bow rode up onto a reef at Jokdo during the voyage.
A breach was found near the bow of the passenger ship, but there has been no flooding so far. Rescue authorities believe there is no immediate risk of the passenger ship sinking.
The Korea Coast Guard plans to move the passenger ship to land at high tide.