10 Pinoys among missing as Korean vessel sinks

MANILA, Philippines - Ten Filipinos were among 54 people still missing last night after a South Korean fishing vessel sank amid high waves in the freezing waters of the western Bering Sea on Monday.

Authorities rescued three Filipinos, a Russian official, a South Korean crewmember and three Indonesians, but weather and water conditions complicated the search for the others.

The crew included 35 Indonesians, 13 Filipinos, 11 South Koreans and a Russian inspector, officials said.

Russian authorities said there were 62 people aboard the South Korean fishing vessel Oriong-501, which sank along the coast of Russia’s far eastern region of Chukotka at 2:20 p.m. local time on Dec. 1.

“Eight have been rescued including three Filipinos,” Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Charles Jose said, citing the report of the Philippine embassy in Moscow.

The embassy also said in its report that bad weather was hampering rescue efforts.

“It is a fishing boat so there were fishing operations in that part of the Russian region where they faced inclement weather,” Jose said.

The embassy has instructed the Philippine honorary consul general in Vladivostok to coordinate with local authorities on the rescue operations.

“Our embassy in Seoul, South Korea has also been requested to get in touch with vessel owner Sajo Industries to obtain more information on the identities of the Filipino crewmembers,” Jose said.

Jose said the Philippine embassies in Russia and South Korea were trying to ascertain those who have been rescued and the identities of the 13 Filipino crew.

South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won promised the government would work with Russia to speed up rescue efforts.

US rescue helicopters joined the search operation for several hours yesterday but failed to make headway, Chung told a meeting of government officials.

A South Korean ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of office rules, said the ship began to list after stormy weather caused seawater to flood its storage areas.

Kim Kang-ho from Sajo Industries, the canned tuna company that owns the ship, said the 2,000-ton vessel was 36 years old.

He said the ship left Busan, South Korea, on July 10 for the Bering Sea to catch pollock, a winter delicacy in South Korea.

The same official from South Korea’s foreign ministry said yesterday that the death toll was expected to rise because rescuers failed to find any of the missing passengers.

Four fishing ships that were operating nearby continue to search for survivors, but harsh weather conditions have limited their mobility, the official said.

Authorities in the Russian port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky said the rescued fishermen were well and would be taken to South Korea once the weather improves.

“The condition of the fishermen who were rescued is fine,” said Artur Rets, chief of the rescue center at the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky port.

Rets said their records showed on Monday that the fishing boat had 62 people on board.

“When the fish were being hauled in, the vessel was hit by a wave,” Rets said.

Another official from Sajo, who did not want to be named, said the ship had eight lifeboats and that the seven fishermen who survived and the person later found dead used one of them to escape. The captain of the ship had issued an escape order and it was believed that the rest of the crew also attempted to escape, he said.

At the time of the sinking, the waves were more than four meters high and the water temperatures were below minus 10 degrees Celsius, he said.

Russia allows South Korean fishermen to fish in its waters for pollock and other fish. –  With AP, Reuters