Jeju: Two people have died and two others are missing after two fishing boats, carrying a total of 15 crew members, ran aground in the waters off the southern resort island of Jeju. The incident was reported by the coast guard on Saturday.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the coast guard received reports at 9:24 a.m. that a 32-ton fishing boat with seven people on board and a 29-ton vessel with eight crew members had become stranded on a rock near Jeju Island. By 3 p.m., 13 crew members had been rescued, but unfortunately, two of them were pronounced dead. Search efforts are ongoing to locate the two missing individuals.

Among the rescued, the captain of the 32-ton boat, a South Korean national in his 50s, was found in cardiac arrest and was transported to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead. An Indonesian crew member was discovered four hours after the accident during coastal search operations, but despite rescue efforts, was also found in cardiac arrest and did not survive.

Another rescued crew member was hospitalized after losing consciousness, but there are no serious health concerns. Ten other crew members were treated for hypothermia, although their conditions are considered minor. The coast guard reported that one of its members was injured after being swept by waves and hitting a rock during the rescue operations.

The captains of both boats are South Korean, while the rest of the crew includes foreigners from Vietnam and Indonesia. Search operations for the two missing crew members continue, but are being hampered by adverse weather conditions and tall waves.

The rescue and search efforts involved nine Navy patrol ships, a Navy warship, and six civilian ships, with approximately 100 personnel deployed to coastal areas to assist in the search. Earlier in the day, acting President Choi Sang-mok directed officials to utilize all available resources to rescue the crew, emphasizing the importance of ensuring the safety of rescue workers due to the challenging sea conditions.