Families rush to the sinking area, underwater search is at a standstill

[Anchor]

Ten crew members of the Geumseongho ship, which sank in the waters off Jeju, are still missing, and their families are anxiously waiting for news.

Today (Nov.11), search operations continued, but visibility underwater is extremely poor, making the efforts challenging.

Reporter Go Min-joo has the details.

[Report]

On the fourth day since the sinking accident, search operations are underway to find the ten missing persons, including eight Koreans, in the accident area.

The Geumseongho ship, which sank 90 meters underwater, has been detected by sonar.

It is evident that the search is difficult as nets are tangled around the hull.

The underwater footage captured by an unmanned robot shows a completely gray environment.

The visibility is less than 50 cm.

Due to the difficulty in securing visibility, the Coast Guard and military believe it is currently challenging to deploy deep-sea divers.

For now, they have decided to complete the first underwater exploration using unmanned robots for searching for the missing persons and mapping the terrain.

Previously, the underwater robot had discovered and recovered two bodies of the missing persons.

Deploying both the robot and deep-sea divers simultaneously poses a risk of collision.

[Jeong Mu-won/Director of the Safety and Security Division, Jeju Coast Guard: "The visibility around the sunken vessel is only within 50cm. There are also many obstacles. Because of these factors, the actual plan to deploy divers will be considered after this initial exploration process is completed."]

The families of the missing persons also went to the accident area today with a desperate hope.

While waiting for their loved ones to return, they express their heart-wrenching feelings day by day.

[Family of the missing: "I hope that at least for one day, before more time passes, they won't stay in the cold sea any longer and will return to their family's arms."]

The Coast Guard and military have expanded the search area, and since the missing persons may drift to the shore, land searches are also being conducted simultaneously.

This is KBS News, Go Min-joo.