Fourteen sailors aboard a ship carrying toxic chemicals remained missing Tuesday after their vessel was feared to have sunk in South Korea's southern waters, ap quoted the Coast Guard officials as saying. The South Korean ship was carrying 2,000 tons of nitric acid, but it is unlikely to pose a threat to the ocean or marine life since the chemical dilutes easily, said Choi Eun-ju, a regional Coast Guard officer. South Korea's Coast Guard and navy started searching for the ship shortly after it sent out a distress signal off Yeosu, 455 kilometers (283 miles) south of Seoul, around 4 a.m. (0700 GMT) Tuesday, said Coast Guard spokesman Kang Byung-mun. One sailor_ identified as a 28-year-old Burmese _ was found floating at sea hours later, but the other 14 crew members _ 12 South Koreans and two from Myanmar _ were still missing, Kang said. The survivor was taken to a hospital but was unconscious, he added. The rescue team has yet to find any wreckage of the ship. However, authorities believe the vessel may have sunk since no signals have been detected from it for more than 12 hours, Kang said. The ship was sailing to Taiwan after leaving the southern port city of Gwangyang on Monday night, he said. The news comes as South Korea battles to contain the nation's worst-ever oil spill, which has blackened beaches and jeopardized the ecosystem along the country's west coast. A wayward barge hit a supertanker on Dec. 7 causing the tanker to leak 78,920 barrels of oil. The Coast Guard sent a boat to measure the acidity of the waters but it sailed back ashore due to high waves, said Song Hae-mi, another Coast Guard officer. A thin oil slick believed to be from the ship's fuel tanker was spotted on the waters, she added.
