[Issue ON] "The depth of the accident area is 80-90m".Twelve missing people are still being searched.

■ Host: Anchor Kim Youngsoo Kim and Anchor Lee Ha-rin
■ Starring: Kim Gil-soo, honorary professor of the Korea Maritime University

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN NewsON] when quoting.

[Anchor]
I reported earlier at the beginning of the news. There was an accident early this morning when a fishing boat with 27 people sank in Jeju. Two people are dead, and we're still looking for 12. I'll go through the details of the accident with an expert. We have invited Kim Gil-soo to the honorary professor studio of the Department of Navigation Convergence at the Korea Maritime University. Please come in.

First, let's listen to the Coast Guard briefing on the current rescue situation. It's been 12 hours since the accident occurred. But we're mobilizing 43 ships and 13 aircraft, but we can't find anyone missing?

[Kim Gil-soo]
It's hard to find. You woke up early this morning.

[Anchor]
There was an accident around 4:30 p.m.

[Kim Gil-soo]
It was very dark then. Also, our fishing boat has the lights on to catch the fish well. You have to turn on the light so that mackerel and other things don't run away. So under the fire, no matter who falls into the water, you can't see the person well. That's why it's hard to find.

[Anchor]
Is it hard to find it even though it's bright now and there's an extensive search?

[Kim Gil-soo]
By the time it dawned, it would have already drifted and gone somewhere along the sea.

[Anchor]
There is a possibility that he is adrift. I think we need to find out what kind of ship the accident was. I heard it's a fishing boat, but what's a fishing boat?

[Kim Gil-soo]
There is a main line and a floating line, and the main line and the floating line cooperate with each other to catch mackerel and mackerel as if they were thinking of putting them under the net.

[Anchor]
We've prepared a picture. That's the fishing boat that sank this time. It's 135 Geumseongho. It's 129 tons. You said that six large fishing boats form one fleet, so please take a closer look.

[Kim Gil-soo]
That's right. There's a main line over there, and when the main line is found to have a lot of fish through the sonar, the main line approaches the fish. And turn on the lights. If you turn on the light, it's dawn. I always work at night. So when you turn on the light, the fish don't run away but gather where the fire is. Then the floating line receives the net and captures the work as if it were thinking of a fish as a float.

[Anchor]
Can the net be seen as a form in which there are nets across the main line, main line, and floating line, and if you catch fish here, those carriers come and receive them one by one?

[Kim Gil-soo]
When the boats gather on both sides like that, the fish at the bottom pull the angled net. Then the fish come up. When you come up, the carriers come and load the fish.

[Anchor]
It's a large fishing boat that catches mackerel, mackerel, and sardines, and if you look at the ship with 129 tons and 27 people on board, the ship is quite big, right?

[Kim Gil-soo]
It's quite a big boat for a fishing boat. That's why you mentioned earlier, but regular fishing boats are made with FRP. It's on plastic resin, and it's lightweight and costs less to make, but ordinary fishing boats do that. It's quite big among fishing boats.

[Anchor]
It is 36 meters long and 7 meters wide.

[Kim Gil-soo]
This is because the bigger ships are made of steel wire. Because it is made of iron, if an accident occurs, resilience can rapidly deteriorate and fall deep into the water. FRP is floating on the water because it is lightweight.

[Anchor]
Then, do you think the reason why the sinking proceeded quickly again is because of the material?

[Kim Gil-soo]
That's right.

[Anchor]
If you look at it now, there are many devices on the ship.

[Kim Gil-soo]
That's right. There should be a sonar to figure out where the fish is located and a net should be pulled up.

[Anchor]
I'd like you to explain the structures on that ship.

[Kim Gil-soo]
The structure on the ship. Mostly those are devices that lift the net by hitting the net. And navigation equipment. I can see the radar, too. Then there's the sonar and other mainly navigation equipment.

[Anchor]
We need to find 12 people on board now. They are missing now, so most of them are wearing life vests, right?

[Kim Gil-soo]
Life vests are worn only when the captain tells you to wear them. I'm not wearing a life jacket while I'm working now.

[Anchor]
Is it because it's uncomfortable with the work?

[Kim Gil-soo]
That's right. It's uncomfortable to work on, so you shouldn't wear a life jacket. It's less efficient. The captain is leaving our ship. When you issue the eviction order, you can jump into the sea wearing a life jacket or unload your life equipment into the sea.

[Anchor]
You're supposed to wear it on the deck.

[Kim Gil-soo]
It should be worn by ordinary passengers and those on board, but those who are working like that can't work at all if they wear life vests. So while I was working without wearing it, my stomach suddenly turned over.

[Anchor]
Has there been an accident of a large ship overturning in the past?

[Kim Gil-soo]
There were very few.

[Anchor]
It's a boat that doesn't have many accidents, right?

[Kim Gil-soo]
That's right. Even if there's an accident, there are a lot of boats around, so you can rescue them quickly.

[Anchor]
Because six ships move together.

[Anchor]
But there were other ships around. Six of them are moving together. But why wasn't the structure immediately established, and this part is so unfortunate.

[Kim Gil-soo]
Right. Your stomach will turn upside down. Then the people who were working on the hull go into the water with the ship. A person in the water can get out if he or she swims well, but if he or she can't swim, it's easy to get in with the boat. In addition, when the ship enters, it usually absorbs water, so people around it are also sucked in together. So it's hard to get out of there unless you can swim very well.

[Anchor]
The weather has become chilly these days, so I'm also concerned about hypothermia. So, search and rescue should be done quickly, but first of all, we know how the current flows in this weather and in early November. I think we can save the ocean if we chase it and search it quickly.

[Kim Gil-soo]
The currents over there flow to the northwest. It flows to the northwest, and the wind is blowing from the northeast. It's monsoon season right now. So both directions are out of alignment. So the Coast Guard has a drift prediction system that predicts where the missing people will be. So if you operate that drift prediction system, you'll know that it's drifting somewhere roughly.

Next, you mentioned the water temperature, but the water temperature is now about 22 degrees high. The southern coast of Korea is the highest in September. It's early November, so the water temperature is still high. Then the golden time will be considerably longer. So it's a little advantageous in terms of water temperature.

[Anchor]
It's a good news that the golden time is getting longer, but I don't know where the missing people are now, but many people are curious about the possibility of air pockets if they are on board.

[Kim Gil-soo]
If the stomach turns upside down, it becomes the lower part of the stomach, and if it turns upside down, it becomes the upper part. There's a possibility that there's still air there. So there were probably people who were sleeping. Those people can breathe with air pockets.

[Anchor]
It is said that the cooks and two cooks were on board.

[Kim Gil-soo]
People like that can use air pockets, but since this is a steel wire, it is rapidly deep in the water, so the air slowly escapes.

[Anchor]
I think it's deep.

[Kim Gil-soo]
The water depth is about 70m.

[Anchor]
It's said to be 80-90m, so how about a diver go down and search for it himself?

[Kim Gil-soo]
There are deep-sea divers in the Coast Guard. I think they can go down and do the rescue work for now.

[Anchor]
If the depth is 80 to 90 meters, compared to the time of Ferry Sewol, the sea off Jindo Island was about 50 meters.

[Kim Gil-soo]
At that time, it was about 30m. However, during Ferry Sewol, when you go into the water, the tide goes back and forth, and the surface of the water is very murky. I can't see the light. You can only see about 50cm or 1m, but it's much easier for divers to work because it's clear waters over there on Jeju Island.

[Anchor]
You're saying it's a little advantageous to have a view.

[Anchor]
Usually, the accident site is located north of Jeju. 24 kilometers northwest of Biyangdo. Are there many accidents in that area?

[Kim Gil-soo]
It's an area where there are a lot of accidents. Last spring, a fishing boat also had an accident over there. That's because I told you about the monsoon earlier. It comes down from Siberia, passes through the coast of Busan, passes through Jeju Island, and goes down to Hong Kong and Shanghai. The weather is actually bad over there because that wind is continuously blowing. It's not good, but it's not the accident this time. However, in general, the sea condition is not good.

[Anchor]
What do you think is the probable cause of the accident?

[Kim Gil-soo]
It turned into an abalone. The resilience of the main line was originally somewhat resilient when the net was pulled up and the net was pulled up, but the resilience momentarily disappeared when the net was pulled up. So, if the stomach is turned upside down, it's called the loss of resilience. Even though it's tilted, it usually returns, but if it goes over the loss of resilience, it doesn't return anymore.

[Anchor]
Was there more fish to carry than usual, or was it likely?

[Kim Gil-soo]
Rather than having a large amount of fish, GM is a measure of resilience in the main line, and the captain should have been good at managing GM, but it is possible that he did not know that GM was relatively reduced.

[Anchor]
You said accidents related to large-scale fishing are rare. If so, I think we need some measures to prevent the recurrence of such accidents. What measures will be needed?

[Kim Gil-soo]
After the Ferry Sewol, all ships and Ferry Sewol sank due to poor resilience, and after the Ferry Sewol, all ferries, including the ferry, appear in numbers as GM. It has been legislated to keep the GM above 1.1m and the bottom above 1.1m. So now, accidents like Ferry Sewol don't happen on ferries. Then, I think we should examine whether there is a need to introduce such a system to fishing boats.

[Anchor]
Please also explain the rescue equipment. We are currently conducting a search with 43 ships and 13 aircraft, what equipment are we equipped with and how are we conducting the search? First of all, in the case of the ship.

[Kim Gil-soo]
The ship is originally called a search pattern when searching. There are six patterns, so if you give them the patterns, each ship will have its own area... so that there are no blind spots. So it's just like a normal search. People who look down on them observe whether there is a person there or not with a telescope.

[Anchor]
And what about the aircraft?

[Kim Gil-soo] aircraft have no choice but to observe it with the naked eye.

[Anchor]
So what do you see as the most urgent thing in this search right now?

[Kim Gil-soo]
The most important thing in search and rescue is the estimated drifting location. I think we need to quickly locate the estimated location and put more ships and aircraft in the area as a whole to scan it thoroughly.

[Anchor]
I see. A fishing boat with 27 people on board sank in Jeju. Fifteen people were rescued, but two were sadly killed in the hospital. The search for 12 people is ongoing. So far, I've taken a closer look with Kim Gil-soo, professor emeritus of the Department of Navigation Convergence at the Korea Maritime University. Thank you for your words today. Thank you.

[Kim Gil-soo]
Thank you.