Fishing boat carrying eight crew members sinks off Jeju coast

A fishing boat with eight crew members sank off Seogwipo, Jeju, on Tuesday. The Korea Coast Guard has initiated an investigation.

The location where a Korean fishing boat sank 563 kilometers (350 miles) off the coast of Seogwipo, Jeju, on May 13 [KOREA COAST GUARD]

A fishing boat carrying eight crew members sank on Tuesday off the coast Seogwipo, Jeju.

The Korea Coast Guard received an initial report at 6:11 p.m. that a 29-ton fish boat was sinking some 563 kilometers (653 miles) south of the Seogwipo coast.

The Korea Coast Guard has opened an investigation and begun recovery efforts.

Ten crew members were registered to be onboard, but only eight were actually on the ship at the time of the incident, according to reports.

The captain was Korean, and seven crew members are Indonesian.

The Coast Guard will dispatch submarines and a search airplane. The aircraft is set to arrive around 9 p.m.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]