With six crew members missing after a tugboat capsized off Busan, the Korea Coast Guard launched an overnight search with the Navy and fire authorities, deploying 19 vessels and three aircraft.
The Busan Maritime Police Station said it began a nighttime search in the accident waters from 7 p.m. on the 2nd.
The nighttime search deployed 19 vessels, including 11 from the Korea Coast Guard, four from the Navy, and four from Busan City and fire authorities. The Navy's Gwangyang carried an ROV for an underwater search. One Korea Coast Guard aircraft and two Air Force aircraft also joined the search.
The Korea Coast Guard is dividing the waters where tugboat A sank into 15 zones covering 25 kilometers by 12 kilometers for the search. With Air Force support, about 270 illumination rounds for nighttime searching will also be dropped.
Water temperature in the accident area is a key variable in searching for the missing. According to the International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue Manual, the maximum survival time for a person missing at sea in waters at 20 C or higher is more than 40 hours. As of 5:40 p.m. that day, the water temperature near Oryukdo was 25.1 C.
The Busan Maritime Police also set up an investigation headquarters to determine the cause of the accident.
The 286-ton-class tugboat A, registered in Busan, capsized at around 1:29 p.m. on the 2nd in waters about 9 kilometers east of Oryukdo. It sank completely at around 3:27 p.m., about two hours after the accident.
At the time of the accident, eight people were on board: six Koreans and two Indonesians. Of them, one Indonesian was rescued by a passing merchant ship.
One Korean was found unconscious inside the vessel and was taken to a hospital but died. The remaining six crew members are missing.