308 Still Missing in Capsizing Of Ferryboat Off South Korea (original) (raw)
308 Still Missing in Capsizing Of Ferryboat Off South Korea
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Dec. 16, 1970
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December 16, 1970
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SEOUL, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 16—Three hundred and eight persons were still missing this morning and feared drowned after a South Korean ferryboat carrying total of 320 passengers and crewmen sank early yesterday morning in the Korea Strait.
Only 12 persons have been saved and there is little hope of finding any more survivors, al. though rescue operations by ships and aircraft from South Korea, Japan and the. United States were continuing. Eight of the survivors were picked up by Japanese fishing vessels and four by South Korean ships.
The exact cause of the sink ing has not been officially de termined. But Mr. Shin Yong Kwan, chief of the national po lice coast guards, said this morning that he believed the loading of cargo on only one side of the deck, engine trouble and the absence of the captain were to blame.
Ship Carried Full Load
The ferryboat, the 362‐ton Namyong‐Ho, was carrying 300 passengers and 20 crewmen, all South Koreans, and about 130 tons of cargo, when it cap sized. It was 50 miles off the southern coast of Korea and 60 miles west of the Japanese island of Tsushima. The acci dent occurred at 1:25 A.M. The ship's capacity was reported to be 321 persons and, 140 tons of cargo.
The Namyong‐Ho was sailing to Pusan, the southeastern port on the Korean peninsula, after it left Sogipo on the south side of Cheju Island at 5 P.M. yes terday on ,a 180‐mile, 14‐hour regular trip, without the regu lar skipper, Mr.. Karig Sam Jong.
The sea was comparatively calm, although there were oc casional 5‐foot‐high waves, ac cording to the police. No other ferryboats were operat ing in the area at the time.
Mr. Shin said that initial in vestigations indicated that the ferry tilted to, one side when it sailed from Sogipo because 150 crates of tangerines had been placed on one side of the deck.
The ship then developed en gine trouble and drifted for about 20 minutes before it capsized, he added.
One survivor, Mrs. Choi Ok Hwa, 55 years old, said at hospital in Pusan:
“It was shortly after 1 in the morning when I noticed the ship leaning to one side all of sudden and water gushing into the cabin.
“I went up to the deck in hurry, jumped into the sea and clung to a long plank.”
She was rescued by a South Korean fishing boat 15 hours later.
The New York Times Dec. 16, 1970
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