Fourth Day of Search for Sunk Tugboat in Busan Suspended Due to Worsening Weather

[Anchor]

The search enters its fourth day to find the six missing crew members from the tugboat capsizing accident off the coast of Busan. With rough waves and strong winds continuing, weather conditions in the accident area have become the biggest variable.

Reporter Hong Seung-yeon has the report.

[Reporter]

High waves repeatedly crash against search vessels, and the boats sway violently in the rough currents.

This is search footage from the accident site released by the Coast Guard yesterday morning (September 4).

The Coast Guard is continuing an extensive search centered around the accident site to find the six missing crew members, but is facing difficulties due to heavy gales.

As a gale warning has been issued for the waters off Busan through September 8, helicopter searches have been suspended, and maritime searches have been shifted to focus on large vessels.

The accident vessel is sunken on the seabed at a depth of 87 meters.

As the gale warning continues, underwater searches, including the use of unmanned submersibles, have also been halted.

The Coast Guard plans to continue the search today, but winds of up to 20 meters per second and high waves reaching 4 meters are battering the accident area, making weather conditions expected to be the biggest variable.

[Woo Jong-mu / Head of Search and Rescue Section, Busan Coast Guard: To conduct the search in more detail, it would be ideal to mobilize smaller vessels and deploy a large number of ships. However, we have mobilized all currently available assets and are focusing mainly on large vessels....]

Investigations to determine the cause of the accident are also underway.

The Coast Guard is giving weight to the possibility that the tugboat capsized due to issues related to the towing line during the towing process.

CCTV footage from the time of the accident shows the accident tugboat, the TS Catcher, flipping over as the tugboats were changing direction.

The Coast Guard is examining possibilities such as the vessel getting caught on the towing line or losing balance due to the strong recoil of the line during this process.

While investigating shipping company officials, the Coast Guard plans to analyze the Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) to precisely determine the cause of the capsizing.

(Video by: Jeong Kyung-mun, Video Editing: Lee Hong-myeong)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.