One crew member died and six went missing after a tugboat capsized off Oryukdo in Busan. One other crew member was rescued.

The 286-ton tug TNS Catcher carrying eight people capsizes about 9 km southeast of Oryukdo off Busan in the afternoon of the 2nd, and the Korea Coast Guard carries out a rescue operation. One person dies and one is rescued in the accident. The Korea Coast Guard searches for six missing crew members. /Courtesy of Busan Korea Coast Guard.

According to the Busan Maritime Police Station, at about 1:29 p.m. on the 2nd, the 286-ton-class tugboat TNS Catcher capsized in waters about 9 kilometers east of Oryukdo in Busan. A total of eight people were on board, including six Koreans and two Indonesians.

Among them, one Indonesian man in his 50s was rescued by a passing merchant ship about 20 minutes after the accident.

Responding to the report, the Korea Coast Guard found a Korean male crew member in his 50s unconscious inside the vessel. The Korea Coast Guard moved the crew member to a coastal rescue boat and transported him to Millak Port before handing him over to the 119 rescue squad, but he died after being taken to a hospital.

The remaining six crew members are missing. The Korea Coast Guard is continuing search operations in the accident area but is facing difficulties due to high waves and fast currents. Waves of 1 to 1.5 meters are reported in the accident area, with a northwesterly wind of 4 to 6 meters per second blowing.

An Indonesian crew member rescued by a merchant ship moves to the Busan Maritime Police Station after the 286-ton tug TNS Catcher carrying eight people capsizes about 9 km southeast of Oryukdo off Busan in the afternoon of the 2nd. One person dies and one is rescued in the accident. The Korea Coast Guard searches for six missing crew members. /Courtesy of News1

The TNS Catcher completely sank at about 3:27 p.m., roughly two hours after the accident. The water depth at the site is about 87 meters.

It was confirmed that the vessel departed from the government ship pier at Busan Port at about 10:15 a.m. to tow a merchant ship. It is presumed to have capsized while operating for the towing work. The accident was reported to the Busan Port vessel traffic service (VTS) by the merchant ship waiting to be towed.

The Busan Korea Coast Guard raised the regional rescue headquarters level to Level 3 and deployed 13 patrol and coastal rescue boats, an aviation unit, and the Central Maritime Special Rescue Unit to the accident area. The Navy also sent the Gwangyang, Chamsuri-class patrol boats, a destroyer, a rescue ship, a minesweeper, and two aircraft to support search and rescue operations.

President Lee Jae-myung received a report on the accident and instructed, "Mobilize all available resources to rescue lives."

The Busan city government also held an emergency response meeting to discuss personnel, equipment, and support measures needed to search for the missing. It decided to dispatch a liaison officer to the Oryukdo coast and assign dedicated civil servants to the families of the missing.

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