Three dead after fishing boat capsizes off South Korea

South Korean coast guard investigating possibility of collision with ship

At least three people were killed after a fishing vessel with eight people on board capsized off South Korea's west coast on Monday morning.

The 35-tonne fishing boat capsized near Gunsan city in North Jeolla province at around 7.36 am local time, prompting Korean authorities to launch a helicopter and patrol vessel.

All eight people were rescued and taken to a hospital, where three of them succumbed to injuries. The victims were identified as a Korean national, who was the captain of the vessel, a Korean engineer, and an Indonesian sailor, Yonhap news agency reported.

The remaining five survivors – three Vietnamese nationals and two Indonesian crew members – were reported to be safe.

President Yoon Suk Yeol had ordered the oceans and fisheries minister and the head of the coast guard to deploy all available personnel and equipment to conduct a rescue, his office said.

The coast guard said they were investigating the possibility of a collision after witnesses said the incident took place after a 1,618-tonne petroleum product carrier passed by the vessel.

A coast guard official told the news agency they planned to investigate the exact circumstances of the accident once the injured had recovered.

In March, at least eight crew members died after a South Korean tanker carrying 995 tonnes of acrylic acid capsized off the coast of an island in southwestern Japan.

The ship was en route from the Japanese port of Himeji to Ulsan in South Korea, the coast guard said. The captain was South Korean and the crew included a South Korean national, a Chinese and eight Indonesians.