3 bodies found at crash scene of chopper near Dokdo islets

DOKDO/DONGHAE, Nov 2 -- Rescue workers found three bodies believed to be among the seven missing people aboard a crashed chopper near the Dokdo islets in the East Sea on Saturday, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.

A helicopter belonging to the fire agency crashed Thursday night, a few minutes after it took off from Dokdo, with seven people on board, including an injured person from a fishing boat.

Rescue workers found three bodies and retrieved one of them as part of an underwater mission by a submarine rescue ship of South Korea's Navy.

One of the bodies was found inside the fuselage. Two others were detected outside it, one of which is believed to be the body of a missing person rescue workers noticed on the sea bed Friday.

The fuselage was upside down when it was found. The tail was snapped and located some 110 metres off the fuselage. The exact cause of the crash has not been determined.

The Navy's Cheonghaejin submarine rescue ship arrived at the scene Friday to join the night search operation for which 14 ships and four helicopters were mobilised.

"Using remotely operated underwater vehicles, the salvage ship will focus on locating the fuselage of the chopper and searching for those on board," a Coast Guard official said.

A total of 18 ships, including five Navy vessels and five Coast Guard ones, were dispatched to the scene to search areas spanning some 37 kilometres south of Dokdo. Seven airplanes were mobilised and around 50 divers were working for the rescue mission.

"Based on the outcome of the search, we will cooperate with the Navy to consider reasonable measures to salvage the (submerged) chopper and the missing people," the official said.

When asked by reporters about the time needed to lift the wrecked chopper from the water, the maritime police said it depends on weather conditions.

The Coast Guard is considering a plan to salvage the fuselage later in the day as the weather conditions are not likely to be good from Sunday.

Firefighters said they will prioritise supporting the families of those missing.

"During the maintenance process, problems were not detected," the fire service said, when asked if there were any signs of trouble before the helicopter took off.

-- BERNAMA