By Seo Soo-min
Staff Reporter

Eight South Korean researchers stationed on the Antarctic went missing in waters off King George Island over the weekend, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Monday.

According to government officials, three of them disappeared first when they were on their way back to King Sejong Station at 1 p.m. Saturday (local time) after loading off their colleagues who departed back home at the Chilean base at King George Island. The three who went together with them on a separate boat returned to the base safely.

The missing three lost contact with the base after reporting inclement weather conditions and rough seas, the officials said.

Then, a rescue team of five was sent to the area where the last contact was made on Sunday but they also went missing after reporting that their boat capsized in rough seas, one and half hours after their departure.

``It was a very sunny day, but right before the accident the weather took a violent turn, with fierce snowstorm lashing in,’’ Nam Sang-heon, a researcher at the Sejong base, the South Korean camp in Antarctica, told The Korea Times in a telephone interview.

The three men who went missing first were identified as Kang Chon-yun, 39, Choe Nam-yop, 37, and Kim Jong-han, 27, Nam said.

``Then the first team made their last radio contact, saying they landed and are heading to the nearby Chinese camp,’’ said Nam.

Nam said that his colleagues here think that they might be still alive since they were on land, although they were not heard from ever since their last contact.

Members of the Chinese, Chilean, Russian, Uruguayan and Argentine camps in Antarctica are helping out with the search both sea and land. Nam said that the first hours were critical, pointing out freezing temperatures and strong winds prevailing in the area at the moment.

The Sejong base is operated by the state-run Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute. Twenty-nine Korean researchers and staffers are currently working there.

In Seoul, the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry asked the governments of South American countries to step up rescue efforts, while an emergency meeting was held to deal with the emergency situation. Chile, Argentine and Uruguay have naval and air force bases in the area.

``An Uruguay naval ship has already begun searching near waters where our crew were missing,’’ a ministry official said.

President Roh Moo-hyun, meanwhile, instructed members of the staff to exert utmost efforts to find the missing men.


ssm@koreatimes.co.kr
12-08-2003 17:59