Chemical tanker capsizes off Japanese coast

The sinking of a South Korean vessel has left at least eight crewmen dead and two missing

At least eight crewmen have been killed and two left missing in South Korea’s latest maritime tragedy, the capsizing of a chemical tanker near an island in western Japan.

The vessel, named the Keoyoung Sun and owned by South Korea’s Keo Young Shipping Co., sent out a distress call on Wednesday morning near Mutsure Island, according to the Japanese Coast Guard. It was reported to be tilting to one side after anchoring in rough seas and high winds near Mutsure, just to the west of Shimonoseki, a port city at the southwestern tip of Japan’s biggest island.

The 28-year-old tanker was loaded with 980 tons of acrylic acid and was operated by a crew of two South Koreans, eight Indonesians and one Chinese national. It was completely capsized by the time Japanese rescuers arrived on scene. The Japanese Coast Guard recovered one surviving crewman, an Indonesian, and the bodies of eight who perished. Two others were still missing as of Wednesday evening.

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Japanese media showed images of the ship floating upside down with seawater washing over its red underside. At the time of the incident, the Keoyoung Sun was reportedly bound from the Japanese port of Himeji to Ulsan, one of South Korea’s largest refining and petrochemical hubs. Its captain was South Korean.

The incident comes about one month after an LNG carrier and an overloaded cargo ship collided off South Korea’s southern coast. All 77 people on board the two vessels were rescued. Also last month, 11 crewmen were rescued from a sinking cargo ship in high winds and rough seas near South Korea’s Jeju Island.

A South Korean oil-products tanker sank in October 2022 after taking on water off the coast of Taiwan. One crew member died, and 19 were rescued. South Korea’s worst maritime accident occurred in 2014, when the capsizing of a ferry carrying students on a high school field trip left more than 300 people dead.