S Korea continues hunt for missing sailors

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121734&sectionid=351020405


Search and rescue efforts are continuing for 46 South Korean sailors missing after their naval ship sank off a disputed border with North Korea.

According to a South Korean military official, the 1,200-tonne Cheonan was on a routine patrol in the Yellow Sea near the South Korean-controlled Baengnyeong Island on Friday when it started to sink.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted officials as saying that an explosion inflicted severe damage on the ship, taking it down quickly.

So far, at least 58 out of the 104 crew members on board are reported to have been rescued.

While Seoul has ruled out any indications that Pyongyang had been involved in the incident, it says the cause of the event remains unclear.

Immediately after the sinking, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency meeting of security officials, urging them to investigate all possible reasons behind the event.

However, he ordered the military to focus on rescuing the sailors.

Some reports on Friday claimed that another South Korean ship had fired shots at an unidentified vessel to the North after the Cheonan began to sink. Government officials have denied the story.

Tensions have been running high on the Korean peninsula following the North's accusation that the South is attempting to oust Pyongyang's government.

North and South Korea are still in an official state of war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce.

South Korea recognizes the Northern Limit Line, drawn unilaterally by the US-led United Nations Command at the end of the war.

North Korea, however, has never accepted the borderline.