[단독]Inspection-maintenance of abalone fishing boat 4 times in 11 months… Police investigating hull defects

“A boat less than a year old, frequent inspections are unusual” 5 people found dead… Continue searching for 4 people

It was confirmed that the blue protection capsized in the sea in Shinan-gun, Jeollanam-do, was inspected and maintained a total of 4 times for 11 months after launching in March last year. The Coast Guard is investigating whether the reason why the agency repeated inspections and maintenance was related to hull defects. So far, five of the nine missing people have been found dead.

According to the Mokpo Maritime Police Station and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries in South Jeolla Province on the 6th, the blue protection was inspected in Incheon and Mokpo, South Jeolla Province in April, June, and November right after the launch in March of last year. During the Lunar New Year holiday this January, she even pulled her ship ashore and maintained it. Qing Bo-ho said that she had a capsizing accident on the night of the 4th after she set sail after completing maintenance during the Lunar New Year holiday.

The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries decided to check whether the inspection was done properly three times. Cho Sang-rae, professor emeritus of the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the University of Ulsan, said, “If a ship is built normally, it is very rare to have so many inspections in a year.” According to the current law, fishing boats undergo intermediate inspections every 2 years and 6 months and regular inspections every 5 years.

The Coast Guard is investigating whether the accident occurred while the cheongbo was operating without completely repairing the hull defect. The police are also investigating why the V-pass alarm, which informs the location of the fishing boat and sends an emergency rescue signal, did not sound immediately after the accident, and why the lifeboat designed to automatically open in case of emergency did not work. In addition, we are looking into the authenticity of the statements of surviving sailors, such as “water often leaked normally” and “the boat sailed tilted on the day of the accident”. However, the ship manufacturer says there have been no problems with the hull until recently.

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However, the Coast Guard believes that the trap overload was not the main cause of the accident. An official from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries said, “Usually, each crab fishing boat weighs 1.5 kg, but it was found that the blue protection boat carried about 2,800 crabs, which is less than the permitted loading amount (3,500 traps) under the Fisheries Resources Management Act, so it is not an overload.”

Meanwhile, during the search operation conducted on the 6th, 5 out of 9 missing sailors were found dead. The Coast Guard found the body of a 65-year-old engineer named Kim near the cabin protected by the government at 3:22 am on the same day. At 11:54 am and 12:03 pm, the bodies of sailors Joo (56) and Lee (58) were found respectively. Also late in the afternoon, the bodies of Mr. Yeo (54) and Mr. Lee (46) were additionally found. However, as of 10 p.m. on the 6th, the whereabouts of the four missing sailors have still not been found. The Coast Guard is carrying out the salvage of the blue protection and is also conducting a search operation in the accident area by putting in 67 ships, including patrol boats, and 8 aircraft.

Reporter Hyungju Lee peneye09@donga.com
Reporter Choi Mi-song cms@donga.com
Reporter Choi Won-young o0@donga.com