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S. Korea continues rescue operations on sunken ship
Follow-up from yesterday. Still nothing specific to suggest a Nork attack. I'm downgrading this to non-WoT unless something pops up.SEOUL, March 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korea stepped up operations Saturday to search for dozens of sailors missing after a Navy ship sank in waters near the western sea border with North Korea in one of the worst tragedies in the country's naval history. The 1,200-ton patrol ship Cheonan sank Friday night, apparently after an unidentified explosion punched a hole in the bottom of the vessel, according to military officials. A total of 104 sailors were aboard the ship, and only 58 of them have been rescued so far. Thirteen soldiers have been hospitalized for injuries such as cerebral hemorrhages, but their conditions are not life-threatening, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The ship's captain, who was rescued unharmed, was to join the rescue operations shortly, but it is feared that unpredictable ocean currents in the Yellow Sea will hamper the operations, the JCS said. President Lee Myung-bak ordered a "quick and thorough" investigation with "all possibilities" in mind as he convened a second emergency meeting of his security-related Cabinet ministers early Saturday, Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye told reporters. "The military should make all-out efforts to rescue as many survivors as possible," Lee was quoted as saying during the meeting held at the underground bunker of the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae. Lee also instructed his government to update the other members of the six-way talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear programs with the development of the related situation, Kim added. The stalled six-party talks involve the U.S., China, Russia, and Japan. Suspicions of North Korea's possible involvement were initially raised because the area was the scene of deadly skirmishes between the navies of the two sides in 1999, 2002 and November last year, and residents on a nearby island reported hearing "loud artillery firing." Military officials later said that a separate navy vessel, which was nearby the sunken vessel, opened fire northward toward an unidentified target, but it was later found that the object caught on radar appears to have been a flock of birds. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency has remained silent on the incident. The North's military is showing no unusual moves, and cross-border traffic between the two Koreas remains normal, with seven South Korean company officials visiting a mountain resort in the communist nation as scheduled, according to the Unification Ministry. "We are detecting no unusual movement from North Korea," JCS spokesman Park said. Another JCS officer, Lee Ki-shik, said the military is "very cautious about pointing fingers at North Korea or any other causes at the moment." In Washington, the State Department said it has no evidence of North Korea's involvement. Other possibilities include the vessel's collision with a rock, a torpedo attack from outside forces, including North Korea, or an internal explosion due to the gunpowder and explosives the ship was carrying. The navy plans to salvage the sunken vessel for investigation to determine what caused the incident, a long process that may take at least 20 days, officials said. The Cheonan is a Pohang-class corvette commissioned in 1989. The ship, first deployed in 1989, was equipped with missiles and torpedoes, according to officials. Posted by: Steve White 2010-03-27 |
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