Jeju fishing boat sank and 12 people are missing...What's the status of the search?

■ Host: anchor Lee Se-na, anchor Na Kyung-chul
■ Starring: Yoon Woong-sung, social affairs reporter

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN New Square 2PM] when quoting.

[Anchor]
This time, we will look into the detailed situation with Yoon Woong-sung, a reporter from the Ministry of Social Affairs. How are you? I'm worried because there are many deaths and missing people, but should we summarize the accident first?

[Reporter]
It's around 4:30 a.m. today. A report has been received that the fishing boat is tilting in the sea about 24km northwest of Biyangdo Island, Jeju Island. Not long after that, they all sank. Currently, there is no accident ship at all at sea. It is a 129 ton ship called the Venus. It's quite a large ship. A total of 27 people were reportedly on board, with 16 Koreans and 11 foreigners on board. A nearby ship rescued 15 people right away, but two of them were taken to the hospital unconscious, but they eventually died and the other 12 are still missing.

[Anchor]
Twelve people are missing. How many search personnel are currently in the process of returning safely?

[Reporter]
The search manpower is increasing by the minute. If you look at the area near the accidental area photographed by the Coast Guard aircraft, many ships are continuously being deployed. As updated from the briefing just now, the Coast Guard has deployed more than 40 patrol ships and 10 aircraft. It is said that 27 divers were also put in. We are mobilizing the manpower and equipment of maritime police stations near Jeju, including Mokpo, Wando, and Seogwipo, as much as possible, the Coast Guard said. It also said that the scope of manpower and search will be expanded depending on the situation. The military also mobilized. It said three ships and four aircraft were deployed, and police and fire departments also deployed aircraft. In addition, about 10 fishing boats and civilian fishing boats belonging to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries are currently conducting search operations.

[Anchor]
It seems that you are going all out in the search, but what kind of search will be done specifically?

[Reporter]
As I said earlier, the Korea Coast Guard is working on a rescue operation to look at ships and sailors who may be floating in the sea from above while operating the Central Rescue Headquarters. It's not known to be too bad weather for a search at the moment. The wind is blowing 4 to 6m per second and the waves are relatively calm, about 1m. While continuing to look through each ship and aircraft, the Coast Guard is also conducting underwater searches with the Central Maritime Special Rescue Team and the West Sea Maritime Special Rescue Team. That's what I said. From around 10:40 a.m., we went into the accident area for about 20 minutes and conducted a dive for the purpose of pre-detection. As a result, it was confirmed that there were a lot of nets. From 1 p.m., two divers conducted the first dive aimed at searching the hull, but it was only about 30 meters deep and the search was completed around 2 p.m. just before, so actual divers wear GoPro and re-verify what videos are there.

[Anchor]
So you're filming a video of a place deep in the water.

[Reporter]
It's said that you wear it on your body when you go in.

[Anchor]
So we heard it at the Coast Guard's briefing a little while ago.It is said that the water depth of the Ma accident area is very deep. Then isn't there a difficulty in the search?

[Reporter]
That's inevitable. It was said that the depth of the accident area was 80 to 90 meters, and the first coast guard said it was 87 meters. In the case of Ferry Sewol, which was a ship sinking accident, the depth of the sea off Jindo Island, Jeollanam-do, was about 40 to 50 meters. So, it can be said that the accident is more than 30 meters deep, almost twice as deep. Of course, an underwater search will affect the underwater view and how strong the flow rate is, but if the water depth is deep, the water pressure will affect it as you said, and the time to go up and down will affect it, so it's a bit difficult. Therefore, the Coast Guard is also considering ways to lift the hull altogether in consultation with ship owners. The key is time. It's already been nine hours since the accident. It's been almost 10 hours, and the water temperature of the seawater is said to be over 20 degrees. If the wind blows, the sensory temperature becomes lower, so there are concerns about problems such as hypothermia.

[Anchor]
I hope to hear about the rescue soon. Once we rescued 15 people, unfortunately, didn't 2 people die? What was the condition of the other crew members reported?

[Reporter]
As I said, 15 people have been rescued. Two of them were taken to the hospital unconscious. Immediately, the regional trauma center was moved to Halla Hospital, but he died. Six Koreans and nine foreigners were among the 15 rescued, including the two dead sailors. The rest of the rescued sailors were moved to Hallim Port, close to the scene of the accident, and fortunately, they were relatively healthy.

[Anchor]
If so, I think this part will be important. Why did the Venus sinking and what caused the accident? Is there anything that came out right now?

[Reporter]
No specific details have been revealed. The Coast Guard is also estimating it, but first of all, the Venus departed from Busan for Jeju on the 24th of last month to catch mackerel. Once you go out, it is a large ship that operates for more than 20 days, so it seems that you were working on it at that time. A total of six ships form a fleet to catch Geumseong Lake. The Coast Guard estimates that the ship overturned in the process of transferring the catch caught on the main line, the Venus, to the carrier. The rescued crew also reportedly made the statement, saying that the ship tilted and capsized in an instant while pulling up additional nets after transferring the catch to the carrier once. In addition, according to the rescued crew, there were two people in the ship at the time, and the remaining 25 were not wearing life jackets while moving the catch from the deck, so the damage seems to have increased.

[Anchor]
It seems more regrettable that he did not wear a life jacket, but President Yoon Suk Yeol issued an emergency order immediately after the accident. How is the government responding?

[Reporter] After the
accident, President Yoon urgently ordered the relevant ministries, centered on the Korea Coast Guard, to make every effort to search and rescue lives by mobilizing all available resources. It also instructed the safety of rescuers in search operations to be noted. About an hour after the accident, the government issued the highest "severe" level among the four stages of crisis warning in accordance with the "Working Manual on Response to Crisis in Coastal Fishing Boat Accidents." In addition, we operated the Government Countermeasures Support Headquarters, led by Hong Jong-wan, head of the Social Disaster Division of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security. It is explained that it has established a communication system with the Central Disaster Management Headquarters and the Regional Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and is supporting rescue and emergency victims. Earlier, we dispatched three field situation managers to the accident area. They said they are working to identify the personal information of missing people and provide accommodation support in cooperation with related organizations such as the Coast Guard.

Prime Minister Han Deok-soo also told the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, and the Korea Coast Guard to do their best to save lives quickly by mobilizing all available docks and fishing boats and merchant ships operating around them. He also told the Ministry of National Defense to support lighting bombs and cooperate with the Coast Guard's rescue efforts as much as possible in the event of a night search. Jeju Island's Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters is in operation. We have set up a situation room at Hallim Port to deal with the accident and are providing one-on-one support to the families of missing persons. Just now, there was a briefing from the head of the Jeju Coast Guard's security department, who is in charge of the Coast Guard search operation. Perhaps in the future, briefings will be held periodically.

[Anchor]
Then, let's connect experts to see what the difficulties we face at the current rescue site and what is the most important task for rescuing missing people.

Let's connect with Lee Sang-gap, an honorary professor of marine system engineering at the Korea Maritime University. Professor, can you hear me? Hello,

[Astrange]
Hello,

[Anchor]
It's been nine hours since the accident. Ten hours are approaching. I'm sure you heard the Coast Guard briefing a little while ago.How do you see the situation on the ground?

[Strange]
There are 12 missing people on board right now, but there are 2 people and then 10 people at sea, and there must be a lot of algae and the temperature is very low, so it seems to be quite difficult right now.

[Anchor]
I think the weather in the area of the accident is important for the rescue activities, but the northeast wind is blowing at 4-6 meters per second in the area of the accident and the wave height is within 2 meters. In this situation, is the condition that the structure is difficult, how do you judge it?

[Strange]
It doesn't seem that the sea condition is that bad right now. I think that's okay because the wave height is about 3-4m.

[Anchor]
Then the water depth is 87m. The deeper the water depth, the more difficult it is to rescue, right?

[Strange]
The depth is very important. It's 80-90m, so it looks quite deep. Even if our water rescue team goes down the water depth now, the water depth is expected to have a great impact to the extent that it goes down halfway. It seems to be quite deep.

[Anchor]
I'm expecting some difficulties. There is likely to be a rescue time that is usually viewed as golden time in such a sinking accident, but now there are 12 missing people. Do you think Golden Time is okay at this point when 10 hours have passed and we are heading towards it? What do you think?

[Strange]
The crew members in the cabin are also very deep at 87m, and even if there is an air pocket, the possibility of an air pocket seems to be small given the current structure of the fishing boat and the process of overturning is not very fast and has been slow. Also, the golden time is not fixed for our sailors who are currently floating at sea due to hypothermia, but I think it's quite difficult because a lot of time has passed.

[Anchor]
You said that there is a risk of hypothermia because the possibility of air pockets is a little low and the sea temperature is also low. It is said that the accident occurred when the catch was overturned in the process of transferring it to a carrier. It is said to be a 129-ton ship fishing boat, so should I consider it a fishing boat that is likely to overturn? How do you see it?

[Strange]
It is said that it is a fairly large fishing boat compared to ordinary small fishing boats and is the main line that commands a legion of fishing boats. In order to reduce the tonnage of fishing boats these days, it is the process of collating in various places and moving the catch for the second time, and there is a net, so I don't know the specific problem, but I think there might have been a problem with resilience.

[Anchor]
Is there a time when you pull a net like this that can cause a ship to rewind or overturn due to its weight, what do you think?

[Strange]
In the process of citing or controlling nets, 25 out of 27 crew members worked together on the deck, so I think the restoration might have been weak or dangerous. However, we need more data in the future to talk about it in detail, but it is vague. In that way, fishing boats are generally small fishing boats, but there are so many rollover accidents. In particular, in fishing boats, there are many crew members on the deck during the process of working, and the catch is also concentrated on the moving side.

[Anchor]
Above all, the missing people should be rescued safely. We will have to rescue without giving up hope until the end. Above all, it is very unfortunate that many of them do not wear life vests. I think this part will be a variable.

[Strange]
I think so, too. However, not only Korean fishing boats but also life vests are very burdensome and uncomfortable when working, so I'm not supposed to wear them, but I think it would be good to pay attention to those things and wear them more conveniently at any time. Most of our sailors at sea don't have life vests, so it seems to be a big problem.

[Anchor]
The search is underway now, and the Coast Guard is considering whether to lift the hull itself altogether or conduct an underwater search. What are the differences between lifting the hull and underwater search, and in what cases?

[Strange]
As I mentioned on the broadcast, the underwater search went down about 30 meters and couldn't go down further because it was deep, but there is a little more hope if divers and sailors who say they were in the cabin using various equipment are helped by air pockets, but if it is lifted, it takes more time and more equipment than diving, so I personally think it should be done faster as an urgent task to do the underwater search first.

[Anchor]
The safety of the rescue team is also important during the search process, so what do you think we should be careful about?

[Strange]
In general, when the water depth is shallow, it appeared on the broadcast earlier, but especially in the case of fishing boats, it is surrounded by nets, so there are quite a lot of problems now because our rescue workers are tied to the nets. Our rescuers will be careful about that, but there's also that. In particular, since the current accident ship is quite deep, the diving crew's descent into the accident ship Venus itself is also quite deep, which is likely to be a big problem. I want you to be careful about that.

[Anchor]
I see. So far, we have talked about this accident with Lee Sang-gap, professor emeritus of marine system engineering at the Korea Maritime University. Thank you, professor.

Reporter Yoon Woong-sung, I've heard what Professor Lee said, and the current is deep in depth, and there are concerns about hypothermia, and the situation seems to be difficult in many ways. Can you organize the contents?

[Reporter]
So the professor's words are quite deep. And since the process of overturning itself was very fast, it seems that the crew in the cabin is also less likely to have an air pocket. So I think the most important thing is time. Therefore, the possibility of survival increases only when rescuing time as soon as possible, but in the end, the deep water seems to be a problem. Because the depth of the water is deep, the first search had no choice but to go in and out about 30m, and there is a danger to the divers' approach itself, because it is more than 80m. This situation seems to be acting as a number of bad news. It seems that the situation is not good, but how did you hear the analysis of the cause? Of course, the cause of the accident should be revealed later through an investigation process, but I heard from the professor that there was something out of balance that we estimated so far. What do you think, reporter Yoon?

[Reporter]
We need to find out exactly how all the catch was moved or how it was placed in the cabin, but there is a possibility that it is focused on one side and a large number of people are also on the deck, and the manpower is also concentrated on one side.

[Anchor]
It means that all the crew members were on one side and worked on it.

[Reporter]
In the process of pulling the net by being driven to one side, the crew's statements came out, but I think there may have been a problem of losing balance.

[Anchor]
Finally, 12 people are missing and rescue operations are underway, so please organize what the rescue authorities will do in the future.

[Reporter]
The rescue authorities are also considering expanding the search scope because the security trap and search scope can continue to drift further away over time. And we have continuously secured 27 divers, and it seems that we will continue to put them in rotation.

[Anchor]
I see. So far, I've been with Yoon Woong-sung, a reporter from the Ministry of Social Affairs. Thank you for saying that.