Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Kang Do-hyung has held an emergency meeting to check up the search of 12 missing crew members of a fishing boat that sank in waters off Jeju Island on Friday morning. 

Officials from the interior, defense ministries, the Korea Coast Guard and governments of Busan and Jeju attended the video meeting on Friday afternoon, with the Coast Guard briefing on the search and rescue operation.

Minister Kang called for all-out efforts to look for and rescue the missing people, while advising caution for the safety of the rescue workers as well. 

The oceans ministry activated the highest level of its emergency response posture in accordance with a guideline on fishing vessel accidents, while forming a central disaster management headquarters headed by the minister. 

The Jeju branch of the Coast Guard received a distress call at around 4:30 a.m. Friday, indicating that the 129-ton Geumseong vessel carrying 27 crew members was sinking 24 kilometers northwest of Jeju’s Biyang Island. 

Fifteen crew members were rescued and taken to a nearby hospital, but two of them, both South Koreans, were later pronounced dead.