10 dead after boat capsizes off South Korea

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL

South Korea woke up to a new maritime disaster Sunday, as 10 people were confirmed dead after a passenger boat capsized off the resort island of Jeju -- the intended destination of the Sewol ferry before it sank last April, claiming 304 lives.

With the Sewol salvage operation barely underway, rescuers turned their attention further south, where the 9.77-ton Dolphin ran into trouble around 30 minutes into its planned journey from Chuja Island, north of Jeju, to the South Korean mainland.

It is not clear how many people were on board the boat when it set off at around 7 p.m. (1000GMT) Saturday.

"Of the 22 people on the list of people on board, 13 were confirmed to have been aboard, four were confirmed not to have boarded, while one of the survivors was not on the list," Jeju maritime official Lee Pyung-hyun said at a news briefing.

Only three people are known to have been successfully rescued by the dozens of aircraft and ships dispatched to the site of the incident -- one of them told reporters that the Dolphin had capsized "in an instant" in rough waters.

The survivors reportedly clung to the upturned boat for more than 10 hours before being brought to safety.

Aside from the similarity of location with the Sewol disaster, local media comparisons quickly emerged over safety lapses.

News agency Yonhap carried a report claiming that the Dolphin had not undergone a thorough safety check in eight years.

Coupled with uncertainty concerning the identity of the passengers on board, the government could be set to come under fresh scrutiny.

Protesters are still camped in central Seoul calling for a full investigation into allegations of corruption and lax management surrounding the Sewol's sinking.

President Park Geun-hye has been kept informed of developments since late Saturday, according to her office.

Park apparently called on her minister in charge of public safety to "do everything possible for the search and rescue of the missing."