The Taiwanese and South Korean governments announced on Friday that two dead bodies had been recovered after a ship carrying six South Koreans went missing in the Taiwan Strait, and that search and rescue activities are underway.
The Kyoto 1 sent distress signals to Taiwan authorities around 9:50 a.m. (0050 GMT) on Thursday from a point about 18 miles (29 km) west of the island, according to the foreign ministry in Seoul. All six crew on board were South Korean nationals.
The Sierra Leone-flagged 322-ton ship was towing the Kyoto 2 tender vessel, which was discovered in the area, to Indonesia’s Batam port from the South Korean city of Busan.
“Our government has launched an emergency response team and dispatched a patrol ship and helicopters for a search,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that it was working with Taiwanese patrol authorities.
The ship sent out a distress signal in waters near the Penghu Islands in the Taiwan Strait, according to Taiwan’s National Rescue Command Center, which dispatched ships and aircraft to search for it.
![An empty vessel reported to be Kyoto](https://oceanicinsight.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/XU4TM7NG65PUFMQ4RTNGYPBAYA.jpg)
Fishermen have located two remains whose identities have yet to be confirmed, and efforts to locate the remaining four are ongoing, according to the report.
A helicopter tasked with assisting the Taiwan operation crashed in waters off South Korea’s southernmost Mara island on Friday, killing two crew members and wounding a third, with a fourth crew member still missing, according to the coast guard.
Two coast guard pilots and two other officials were on board the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter when it plunged into the sea about 1:32 a.m., 370 kilometers (225 miles) southwest of the island (1632 GMT Thursday).
According to Park Je-soo, a Jeju coast guard official, the chopper was returning to its base on Jeju island after dropping six members of a special rescue team on a nearby patrol ship sailing for Taiwan.
“The pilot was alive when he was rescued, but his co-pilot and a radar operator were unconscious. Despite our emergency care, they did not regain consciousness,” Park told a televised briefing.
The pilot suffered multiple fractures and was hospitalized for treatment, and a search was ongoing for the missing fourth person, a mechanic, he added.