Three Anglers Missing Off Incheon Coast Rescued After 11 Hours

Three anglers who went out to sea on a motorboat off the coast of Incheon have been rescued by the Coast Guard approximately 11 hours after losing contact.

The Incheon Coast Guard announced that at around 6:10 AM today (August 10), they rescued three men in their 20s and 30s, including a person surnamed A, in the waters near Chojido Island, Jawol-myeon, Ongjin-gun, Incheon, who had lost contact the previous day.

At the time of their rescue, the individuals were wearing life jackets and clinging to a capsized 0.28-ton motorboat.

The group led by A showed symptoms of hypothermia and was transferred to a hospital, though it was reported that none of their lives were in danger.

According to the investigation, they had previously set out to fish on a motorboat from Wangsan Beach in Yeongjong-gu, Incheon, at around 12:30 PM the day before.

A's wife reported the situation to the police at around 10:30 PM after losing contact with her husband following their last phone call at around 7:10 PM the previous day.

Upon receiving the report, the Coast Guard set up a regional rescue headquarters and intensively searched the waters near Chojido and Jawoldo islands based on the husband's last known location provided by A's wife through a location-tracking application and a maritime drift prediction system.

It was learned that the mobile phones of all members in A's group were turned off at the time, and the motorboat they were riding did not have an Automatic Identification System (AIS), making it difficult to verify their location.

The Coast Guard deployed three aircraft, 19 patrol vessels, and three vessels from related agencies for the search, resulting in patrol boat P-78 discovering them.
(Photo provided by Incheon Coast Guard, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.