A South Korean fishing vessel sank in waters off Antarctica Monday, leaving five crew members dead and 17 others missing, officials said. Of eight South Koreans aboard, two were dead and five others were missing, they said.
The 614-ton ship was carrying 42 people when it went down around 4:30 a.m. Korean time, the officials said in a statement. Other crew members included eight Chinese, 11 Indonesians, three Filipinos and one Russian, officials at the foreign ministry and the coast guard said.
Twenty of the crew members were rescued by a nearby fishing vessel from South Korea, they said. The ship was trying to search for and rescue the missing, they said.
South Korea has asked New Zealand for help in rescue operations, the officials said, Yonhap reported.