One of the six crew members missing after the capsizing of the tugboat TNS Catcher off the coast of Busan has been found dead, seven days after the incident.
According to Yonhap News and the Coast Guard, a sanitation worker discovered the body on the beach in front of a restroom at Dogu Beach in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, at 8:48 a.m. on September 9.
Upon receiving the report, the Coast Guard conducted digital forensics on a mobile phone and smartwatch found with the body, confirming that it belonged to the missing crew member, identified as A.
A was the second engineer of the TNS Catcher, and it took more than 12 hours to confirm his identity.
The Coast Guard stated, "Standard fingerprint analysis was insufficient for identification, and we confirmed the identity through a one-to-one detailed fingerprint comparison with the second engineer's prints."
The TNS Catcher capsized on September 2 while towing a container ship, M, that had suffered engine failure approximately 9 kilometers east of Oryukdo, Busan.
During the incident, one Indonesian crew member was rescued, while a Korean crew member was found unconscious and later died. At the time of the accident, six crew members were reported missing, leaving five still unaccounted for after A's body was recovered.
The rescued Indonesian crew member reported seeing another crew member jump from the TNS Catcher during the incident, and the Coast Guard believes that individual was A.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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