3 sailors dead, 3 missing as S. Korean fishing boat collides with foreign reefer in Yellow Sea

Three sailors have been killed and three others are missing after a South Korean fishing boat collided with a foreign reefer vessel before overturning off the southwestern coast in the Yellow Sea on Thursday, Yonhap reported. The accident happened at 12:37am, when the 15-ton 2007 Yeongheung carrying six crewmen hit a 498-ton Tanzanian refrigerated cargo ship and capsized in waters 9.6km northwest of Sinan, South Jeolla Province and about 280km from Seoul, the coastguard said. One sailor was reportedly found dead less than an hour into the accident. Rescue divers also found two more sailors inside the sunken ship. The crewmen’s identities were not immediately known. A special rescue team, 17 patrol ships and four aircrafts are continuing a search under and off the sea for the five missing sailors.