Search for 17 missing fishermen suspended

The No. 1 Insung. Photo / Supplied

The search for 17 fishermen missing in the Southern Ocean has been suspended as no further survivors are expected.

Twenty survivors and five deceased were recovered from the water after the Korean-owned and operated No.1 Insung sank at 6.30am yesterday about 1,000 nautical miles (1,850 kilometres) north of McMurdo base.

The boat sank in international waters but was in New Zealand's search and rescue region - meaning the Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) controlled the search for the No.1 Insung vessel.

RCCNZ search and rescue mission coordinator Dave Wilson said given that around 30 hours had elapsed since the vessel sank, there was no reasonable expectation that any further survivors would be found.

It is still not known how the vessel, a 58m longliner, sunk.

Eight South Koreans, eight Chinese, 11 Indonesians, 11 Vietnamese, three Filipinos and one Russian were on board.

The dead included two Indonesians, one South Korean and one Vietnamese, a Foreign Ministry official said.

The 20 rescued men are on board the fishing vessel No. 707 Hongjin and are reported to be in a comfortable condition, with none requiring medical treatment. The five deceased are also on board.

Mr Wilson said it was understood No. 707 Hongjin would remain in the search area until it was joined by two other vessels from the same fleet - understood to be at least a day's sailing away. The other two Korean vessels had now left the search area.

"Unfortunately the Southern Ocean is an extremely unforgiving environment," Mr Wilson said.

"With the sea temperatures around two degrees Celsius, survival times for crew members in the water would be very short. The medical advice is that those who did not suffer cardiac arrest on entering the water would likely be unconscious after one hour, and unable to be resuscitated after two hours. We understand the vessel sank very quickly and the crew had to abandon ship without time to put on adequate emergency gear. "Sadly, it is exceedingly unlikely that anyone not picked up yesterday could have survived."

Mr Wilson said RCCNZ had been liaising with the various foreign embassies involved to ensure the families of the crew were kept informed.

Two New Zealand fishing boats working for seafood company Sealord were yesterday called to assist with the rescue of the 42 sailors, but were later stood down. Three Korean fishing vessels continued to search for the men overnight.

The rescue vessel and fishing company said the boat sank quickly and those able to abandon ship jumped directly into the water without lifejackets or immersion suits.

"At the moment everyone is focusing on saving as many people as possible and finding all those who are missing. Causes can be worked out after," said an RCCNZ spokesman.

The owners of the ship said the boat may have collided with an iceberg.

Insung Corporation spokesman Ryan Kim said the company was trying to understand what happened.

"The boat sank in about 30 minutes. We are trying hard to find the reason why it sank so quickly," he told AFP.

"We believe the vessel might have been hit by an iceberg or a strong wave, although we have yet to secure any evidence of this. We are now collecting information from the surviving crew."

Searchers considered calling in an Air Force Orion to help at one point, but it would have taken at least eight hours to get to the area from the time it left New Zealand.

"Unfortunately, given the short survival times in water of those temperatures and the length of time it would take for the Orion and Hercules aircraft to reach the search area, it was not a viable option," Mr Wilson said.

There is a light westerly at 10 knots and a 1m swell in the area today.

Coastguard New Zealand chief of operations Richard Bray said the rescue was a category two.

"That's our highest and most serious alert for search and rescue operations. It means it's very serious."

It is the second time this year a Korean fishing vessel has sunk quickly, resulting in deaths in waters near New Zealand. In August six men died and 45 were rescued after their boat sank in just 15 minutes in calm waters 400 nautical miles from Dunedin.