December 2, 2014 — South Korean officials expressed fear of a huge death toll after rescuers Monday failed to find any of the more than 50 fishermen missing after their vessel sank amid high waves in frigid waters of the western Bering Sea.
One Korean crew member was confirmed dead and 52 others remain missing. Eight people made it into a lifeboat, including the one who later died. A nearby fishing vessel rescued them.
Of the 60 people on board the vessel named 501 Oryong, there were 35 from Indonesia, 13 from the Philippines, 11 from Korea and one from Russia. The Russian was described by the Associated Press as a fisheries inspector and was among those saved along with three Indonesian and three Filipino crew members.
The 326-foot fishing vessel sank Sunday evening in Russian waters about 15 miles from U.S. waters, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The vessel, which news reports said was owned by Sajo Industries Co. Ltd of Seoul, was fishing for pollock. Russian authorities reported that the trawler was hauling in its catch when a wave hit and flooded its storage chambers with seawater.
A distress signal went out at about 8:20 p.m. Alaska time, according to the Consular Office of the Republic of Korea in Anchorage.
Rough seas and poor visibility hampered Monday’s search, which drew on Coast Guard crews from Alaska as well as rescuers from Russia’s Kamchatka Border Guard Directorate.
A Coast Guard HC-130 from Air Station Kodiak flew over the area Monday afternoon, and the Coast Guard Cutter Munro was headed to the scene from Dutch Harbor, said Petty Officer 1st Class Shawn Eggert. The Oryong went down about 150 miles northwest of Alaska’s St. Matthew Island and about 580 miles from Dutch Harbor, Eggert said. The Munro wasn’t expected to arrive there until Wednesday.
With just one-half mile of visibility, waves 22 to 26 feet high, high winds and a low cloud ceiling, the search for survivors was challenging, Eggert said from Anchorage. Rescuers did find a couple of life rafts, but they were empty, he said Monday evening.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at Alaska Dispatch News