WELLINGTON, New Zea- Land — New Zealand today called off the search for 17 fishermen missing for more than 30 hours in icy Antarctic waters after their South Korean boat sank.
New Zealand’s rescue coordination center said 20 survivors and five bodies had been recovered from the water after the No. 1 Insung went down Monday 1,400 miles south of New Zealand, about halfway to Antarctica.
Spokesman Dave Wilson said it was “exceedingly unlikely” that any of the 17 missing men could have survived as the boat sank very quickly and the crew had to abandon ship without putting on survival gear.
It was unclear why the vessel sank in light winds and a relatively mild 3-foot swell.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the boat had 42 people aboard: eight South Koreans, eight Chinese, 11 Indonesians, 11 Vietnamese, three Filipinos and one Russian. Confirmed dead were two Indonesians, two South Koreans and one Vietnamese, a ministry official said.
