According to the Taiwanese and South Korean governments, Taiwan recovered 2 bodies after a ship carrying 6 South Koreans went missing in the Taiwan Strait. Search and rescue operations are under way.
Taiwan authorities said that they received distress signals from the Kyoto 1 at around 9:50 a.m. (0050 GMT) on Thursday (7 April) from a location about 18 miles (29 km) west of the island, the foreign ministry in Seoul said, adding that all 6 people aboard were South Korean nationals.
According to Reuters, the Sierra Leone-flagged, 322-ton ship was on its way to Indonesia’s Batam port from the South Korean city of Busan while towing the Kyoto 2 tender vessel, which has been found in the area.
Our government has launched an emergency response team and dispatched a patrol ship and helicopters for a search
…the ministry said in a statement, adding that it was working with a Taiwanese patrol authorities.
As informed, Taiwan’s National Rescue Command Centre said the ship had sent out a distress message in waters near the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait and they had sent ships and aircraft to look for it.
The 2 bodies were discovered by fishermen. The identities of the bodies are yet to be confirmed while efforts are continuing to find the other four.
In a separate accident, according to the coast guard, a helicopter tasked with aiding the Taiwan operation crashed in waters off South Korea’s southernmost Mara island on Friday, killing 2 crew members and injuring a third with a fourth missing.
What is more, a team of two coast guard pilots and two other officials was aboard the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter when it plunged into the sea 370 km (225 miles) southwest of the island at about 1:32 a.m. (1632 GMT Thursday).
Park Je-soo, a Jeju coast guard official, said that the chopper was returning to its base at the Jeju island after dropping six members of a special rescue squad on a nearby patrol ship leaving for Taiwan.
The pilot was alive when he was rescued, but his co-pilot and a radar operator were unconscious. Despite our emergency care, they did not regain consciousness
…Park told a televised briefing.
The pilot suffered multiple fractures and was hospitalized for treatment, and a search was ongoing for the missing fourth person, a mechanic, he added.
