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At dawn on the 8th, a helicopter belonging to the Coast Guard crashed into the sea southwest of Marado, killing two of the four crew members and one missing.

A tugboat carrying six Koreans went missing in the waters of Taiwan, and the helicopter that crashed was supporting rescue operations from the accident.



Reporter Suwon-wook reports.



<Reporter> The



helicopter belonging to the Namhae Regional Maritime Police Agency crashed around 1:30 this morning.



The helicopter that crashed is an S-92 made by Sikorsky.



The crash site was about 124 nautical miles southwest of Ieodo, and at the time of the accident, four crewmembers, including the captain, were on board the helicopter.



Government officials said two of the four people were dead and one was missing and the search is ongoing.



One other person was rescued and is said to be in a non-life-threatening condition.



The accident helicopter was in support of the tugboat disaster that occurred off the coast of Taiwan yesterday morning.



It was confirmed that they dropped off the Central Special Rescue Team personnel and equipment on a Korean Coast Guard ship headed for Taiwan and then crashed into the sea while returning.



[Ministry of Public Administration and Security officials: (Taiwan dispatch personnel) dropped off on the ship, took off, arrived a little, and crashed right away.

We haven't figured out the cause yet.]



The Coast Guard has requested cooperation from related agencies such as the Navy to find the missing crew members.



Jeon Hae-cheol, the Minister of Action and Safety, issued an emergency order to mobilize available resources and do all-out efforts to rescue lives.