South Korean fishing boat sank in Antarctic Ocean

The Jakarta Post -

A South Korean fishing boat sank Monday in the Antarctic Ocean, leaving four sailors dead and 18 missing, officials said. Twenty sailors were rescued.

The 614-ton boat with 42 sailors aboard sank around 4:30 a.m. South Korean time (1930 GMT), about 1,400 miles (2,250 kilometers) south of New Zealand, South Korea's Foreign Ministry and coast guard said.

Nearby fishing boats rescued 20 of the sailors, the Foreign Ministry said.

South Korea asked New Zealand to help rescue the missing sailors, the ministry said in a statement. There were no immediate details about that rescue effort.

On board the boat were eight South Koreans, eight Chinese, 11 Indonesians, 11 Vietnamese, three Filipinos and one Russian, the statement said.

The dead included two Indonesians, one South Korean and one Vietnamese, a Foreign Ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of office rules.

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