SEOUL: All 267 passengers and crew were safely rescued after their ferry ran aground on an uninhabited island off South Korea’s southwestern coast, the Coast Guard said Thursday, according to the Yonhap news agency.
The passenger vessel was traveling from Jeju Island to the port city of Mokpo when it ran aground after 8:00 p.m. (1100 GMT) on Wednesday, authorities said.
No serious injuries were reported and 246 passengers and 21 crew were safely moved to a nearby port on rescue ships, Yonhap reported.
Authorities suspect human error may be to blame for the incident.
Coast Guard Commissioner Kim Yong-jin told reporters that a preliminary assessment suggests the accident was likely caused by “errors” made by the crew. An investigation is ongoing.
A photo released by Yonhap showed the bow of the ferry pressed up against the island’s tree-covered shore.
Another image showed passengers waiting to be rescued, many of them wearing what appear to be life vests.
President Lee Jae Myung ordered “swift rescue efforts” and instructed officials to provide real-time updates to the public, his office said.
In 2014, a ferry carrying more than 470 passengers — mostly pupils on a school trip — capsized off the southwestern coast, killing 304 people in South Korea’s worst maritime disaster.
The salvaged wreck of the Sewol ferry was brought to Mokpo nearly three years later.
South Korea ferry runs aground, all 267 aboard rescued: Yonhap
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South Korea ferry runs aground, all 267 aboard rescued: Yonhap
- The passenger vessel was traveling from Jeju Island to the port city of Mokpo when it ran aground
- Authorities suspect human error may be to blame for the incident
Afghan government says Pakistan strikes Kabul and border provinces
- A Pakistani security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Pakistan struck overnight
- Islamabad last month launched a wave of air strikes on its neighbor, an operation it says is targeting militancy
KABUL: Afghan authorities said on Friday that Pakistan had carried out new strikes on Kabul and border provinces, killing four people in the capital.
A Pakistani security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Pakistan struck overnight, adding their forces targeted the Pakistani Taliban militant group, known as TTP.
Islamabad last month launched a wave of air strikes on its neighbor, an operation it says is targeting militancy following growing attacks in Pakistan.
But the Taliban government has denied any involvement or the use of Afghan territory for militancy.
Khalil Zadran, the spokesman for Kabul police, said four people had been killed and 15 wounded in the bombardment that hit homes in the capital, with women and children among the victims.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid posted on X that Pakistani strikes also hit the southern province of Kandahar, as well as eastern Paktia and Paktika, which border Pakistan.
In Kandahar, which is home to the administration’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, air strikes hit a fuel depot for airline Kam Air, near the airport.
This company supplies fuel to civilian airlines and United Nations aircraft.
Pakistan insists it has not killed any civilians in the conflict. Casualty claims from both sides are difficult to verify independently.
Afghan and Pakistani forces have also clashed repeatedly at the border in recent weeks, hampering trade and forcing nearby residents to leave their homes.
‘Open war’
The United Nations’ mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has said that 56 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan, including 24 children, by Pakistani military operations between February 26 and March 5.
About 115,000 people were forced to leave their homes, according to the UN refugee agency.
Fighting between the two countries intensified on February 26, when Afghanistan launched an offensive along the frontier, in retaliation for earlier Pakistani air strikes targeting the TTP.
Pakistan then declared “open war” against the Taliban authorities, bombing the capital, Kabul, on February 27.
Since then, clashes have increased in border regions, including overnight Wednesday to Thursday that the Afghan authorities said killed four members of the same family in Khost province.
The Taliban government said on Thursday that four members of the same family, including two children, were killed by Pakistani artillery and mortar fire in eastern Afghanistan.
Seven people had been killed in Afghanistan since Tuesday as a result of cross-border clashes between the two sides, according to the authorities in Kabul.
Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said the latest deaths happened early Thursday in the village of Sadqo in Khost province, accusing Pakistan of deliberately targeting civilian homes and nomads’ tents.
