South Korean officials yesterday expressed fear of a huge death toll after rescuers failed to find any of the more than 50 fishermen who went missing when their ship sank amid high waves in the freezing waters of the western Bering Sea.
Authorities rescued seven crew members and recovered one body, but weather and water conditions complicated the search for the others, an official from the South Korean fisheries and oceans ministry said on condition of anonymity because of office rules.
Rescue workers found an empty lifeboat Tuesday near the site of the accident that might have belonged to the sunken Oryong 501, said Kim Kang-ho, an official with Sajo Industries, the canned tuna company that owns the ship.
The crew included 35 Indonesians, 13 Filipinos, 11 South Koreans and one Russian inspector, the fisheries and oceans ministry official said. Russian authorities said there were 62 people aboard the ship, which sank in the western part of the Bering Sea, near Russia.
The ministry official said it’s believed that the ship, which was catching pollock, began to list after stormy weather caused seawater to flood its storage areas. Kim said the 2,000-ton vessel was 36 years old. The seven people who were rescued had symptoms of hypothermia and couldn’t talk in length about what exactly happened, he said.
An official from South Korea’s foreign ministry, who refused to be named, citing office rules, said Tuesday morning that the death toll was expected to rise because rescuers failed to find any of the missing passengers. Four fishing ships that were operating nearby were continuing to search for survivors.