A crewman who went missing in a Coast Guard helicopter crash in waters off South Korea’s southernmost island of Mara was found dead in the submerged chopper, the Korea Coast Guard said Saturday.

The 42-year-old mechanic Cha Joo-il was one of the four members aboard the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter, which went down in waters 370 kilometers southwest of Mara Island on Friday, shortly after a takeoff to return to the southern port city of Busan.

The chopper was there to drop off Coast Guard rescuers on the patrol boat on a mission to help with rescue operations for six crew members missing from the 322-ton Kyoto 1 in waters near Taiwan.

In the crash, the chopper’s co-pilot, named Chung Doo-hwan, 50, and the 27-year-old vessel radar operator, Hwang Hyeon-jun, were killed, and Cha had gone missing.

Its pilot, surnamed Choi, 47, was rescued by a nearby Coast Guard patrol boat and is in a non-life threatening condition, according to Coast Guard officials.

Their memorial altars were set up at a Busan funeral home, and the three-day funeral will be held starting Sunday, according to the officials.
Meanwhile, two bodies retrieved Friday in waters near Taiwan were confirmed to have been of South Korean crew members aboard Kyoto 1, according to a foreign ministry official.

Earlier in the day, one more body was recovered, and South Korean and Taiwanese police authorities are working on its identification, he added.

On Thursday, the Taiwanese maritime authorities received a distress call from Kyoto 1 and informed the Seoul government of the incident. All six crew members of the vessel are South Korean nationals.

The Kyoto 1 was on its way to the Batam port of Indonesia from Busan, taking the Kyoto 2 tender ship in tow, which has been found in the waters.

Source: Yonhap News Agency