6 missing, a day after ship capsizes off South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Aircraft and ships were searching off South Korea's eastern coast Thursday for six crew members still missing a day after a fishing ship capsized. One crew member has been found unconscious and two others were rescued.

Nine crew members were aboard the 72-ton ship when it was reported to have overturned Wednesday in the waters roughly halfway between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Four are Chinese, three South Korean and two Indonesian.

Their ship left the eastern port of Hupo last Sunday to catch red crabs, according to the South Korean coast guard.

After initial search efforts made little progress due to bad weather, rescuers on Thursday morning recovered one of the crew members from the capsized ship who remains unconscious, a local coast guard office said in a statement. The person’s identity wasn’t immediately known.

Roughly around the same time, a civilian fishing boat rescued two other crew members, both Chinese, who were found floating in the area, the statement said. It said they are conscious.

The coast guard said it’ll continue searching for the missing crew members. As of Thursday morning, 10 ships, three helicopters and two planes from South Korea were involved in the search, supported by a Japanese ship, the coast guard said.