Sixth Day Since Tugboat Capsized Off Busan; Missing Crew Still Not Found

[Financial News] Six days have passed since the tugboat TNS Catcher capsized off the coast of Busan, but the fate of the six crew members who fell into the sea remains unknown.
The Busan Maritime Police Station said on the 7th that it had yet to find the missing persons or any belongings of the missing crew members. Five vessels—three from the Coast Guard and two military vessels—were deployed to search the waters early that morning, but the operation yielded no results. Worsening weather has also made aerial and maritime searches difficult. A gale warning is currently in effect off Busan and Ulsan, with wave heights reaching 4 to 4.5 meters.
The Coast Guard is also searching the shoreline and coastal areas. Coast Guard substations and the military in Busan and Ulsan are conducting intensive searches using surveillance equipment.
The search for the missing crew members will continue during the day. Relevant agencies have deployed six vessels and eight aircraft. However, due to the worsening weather, only large vessels weighing 1,000 tons or more were mobilized. Underwater searches remain impossible. The maritime search area covers a 31-kilometer-wide by 50-kilometer-long stretch of sea off Busan.
According to the Coast Guard, the 286-ton tugboat TNS Catcher capsized at 1:29 p.m. on the 2nd, about 9 kilometers southeast of the Oryukdo Islets off Busan, and two people were rescued. One Korean crew member, who was rescued from inside the vessel in an unconscious state and taken to a hospital, eventually died. Eight crew members were aboard the TNS Catcher at the time—six South Koreans and two Indonesians. Six people remain missing.
[email protected] Baek Chang-hoon Reporter