Deadly Capsizing

[Anchor Lead]

A recreational fishing boat capsized on Sunday morning in the sea off Yeongheungdo Island in Incheon after colliding with a tank vessel. Of the 22 people on board, 13 have died while two others remain unaccounted for. The accident occurred when the two ships were trying to pass through a narrow seaway. The Korea Coast Guard is investigating the accident.

[Pkg]

The fishing boat Seonchang-1 departed from Jindu Port at around 6 a.m. on Sunday. It was moving in the southwest direction. At approximately the same time, a tank vessel that was moving in the same direction along the same route hit the left side of the fishing boat about 1.6km from Jindu Port. The collision caused the shipping boat to turn over and capsize. Then the tanker ran right over the submerged fishing boat. The weather was cloudy at the time of the accident, which happened in darkness an hour and a half before the sunrise.

[Soundbite] (Survivor) : "The tanker hit the left side of our boat. Two other passengers and I were pushed out into the sea within seconds."

These are the waters where the collision took place. The blue area between Yeongheung-do and Cheuk Islands is a sea route. The remaining area is a tidal flat. The passage is not wide enough for several ships to travel through simultaneously. The tight ocean space is believed to be the main cause of the accident. Authorities are also investigating the speed at which the two vessels were moving at the time. This is the capsized shipping boat. A portion of the fishing boat's hull measuring 50cm wide and one-meter deep is floating in the sea. It's the part of the fishing boat that the tank vessel sailed over. Survivors say that the tanker, which was trailing the fishing boat before the collision, caught up in a matter of moments.

[Soundbite] (Survivor) : "I heard someone say that there were lights behind our boat indicating that it might be another ship. The accident occurred less than a minute after I heard that."

After the powerful collision, the passengers fell into the swift sea current, as they were unprepared and had no time to escape. At the time of the accident, the water temperature was about 6-10 degrees Celsius.