A man in his 50s was arrested by the Coast Guard on charges of arson in connection with a fishing boat fire that occurred in Seongsan Port, Jeju, on the morning of the 4th.
The Seogwipo Maritime Police Station announced today (6th) that they are investigating and urgently arresting a man in his 50s on charges of setting off a ship in the current state.
Person A is accused of setting fire to three longline fishing boats moored in Seongsan Port at dawn on the 4th.
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The Coast Guard immediately arrested Mr. A at 11:45 am on the 5th after confirming the arson charges and vehicle number of Mr. A through a closed circuit (CC) TV video near the accident site.
A is working as a sailor, but the Coast Guard said that he is not a crew member of the three fishing boats on fire.
As a result of the Coast Guard investigation, Mr. A arrived at the place where the vessel in Seongsan Port was moored in his car at around 3:11 am on the 4th.
It was later identified that he took a white object from the trunk of his car and put it in the fuel port of his car and then pulled it out.
The Coast Guard is investigating whether this object was used in the crime.
Afterwards, Mr. A climbed on the deck of the first of the 9 ships moored in parallel at about 3:18 am, passed the deck of the second ship, and passed over to the third moored fishing boat B (29t).
Appearing on the deck of No. B at about 4:05 am, 47 minutes later, Mr. A landed on land and left the scene immediately after getting in his car.
After a while, black smoke began to rise from Room B, and around 4:23 a.m. the flames erupted with three explosive flames.
The Coast Guard is investigating the circumstances of the crime against Mr. A, confiscating the clothes he was wearing at the time of Mr. A's residence, and requesting an urgent analysis to secure evidence.
It is known that Mr. A is intoxicated and denies all the crimes, saying he can't remember.
The Coast Guard plans to apply for an arrest warrant for A after additional investigation and securing evidence.
Earlier, at around 4:27 am on the 4th, a report was received from the fire department that three Seongsan longline fishing boats (29t, 39t, 47t) were moored in Seongsan Port, Seogwipo City, on fire.
The fire department and the Coast Guard immediately extinguished the fire and caught a big fire around 7:21 am on the same day three hours after receiving the report, but the oil of the fishing boat caught fire and rekindled, and the fire was completely extinguished after about 12 hours.
There were no people on the fishing boats at the time of the fire, so there were no casualties, but three fishing boats were severely burnt, and a high-performance chemical vehicle mobilized for the firefighting operation was also burned.