AP:
SKorean navy ship sinks in waters near NKorea
Mar 26 12:52 PM US/Eastern
By KWANG-TAE KIM
Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Military officials say a South Korean navy ship has sunk off an island not far from North Korea.
An official with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said early Saturday that the ship sank some four hours after it began taking on water. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with department policy.
The official said at least 58 of the 104 crew members have been rescued. There was no immediate confirmation of casualties. A rescue operation was still under way.
The cause of the sinking was not immediately clear.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)—South Korea's military scrambled naval vessels to the western waters near the disputed maritime border with rival North Korea late Friday after an explosion ripped a hole in the bottom of a military ship, officials and news reports said.
The ship, on a routine patrolling mission with 104 crew members on board, began sinking off the coast of South Korean-controlled Baengnyeong Island close to North Korea around 9:45 p.m. (1245 GMT, 9:45 a.m. EDT), an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported an explosion in the rear of the 1,200-ton ship and said the military had not ruled out the possibility of an attack by North Korea. However, the military official said the exact cause was not immediately clear and said he could not confirm the Yonhap report.
A rescue mission was under way and the military moved to strengthen its vigilance near the maritime border, the site of three bloody naval clashes in the past between the warring Koreas. The divided peninsula remains in a state of war because the three-year Korean conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.
Earlier Friday, North Korea's military threatened "unpredictable strikes," including a nuclear attack, in anger over a report that South Korea and the U.S. were preparing for possible instability in the totalitarian country.
After the ship began sinking, President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency meeting of security-related ministers, Yonhap said, citing presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye. She said it wasn't clear yet whether North Korea was involved in the ship's demise.
Six naval ships and two coast guard vessels were rushed to the waters to save the crew, Yonhap said. Rescue helicopters and ambulances also sped to the scene, the military official said. By 12:30 a.m. Saturday (1430 GMT, 10:30 a.m. EDT Friday), with the ship nearly submerged, 58 of the soldiers had been rescued, the official said. There were no immediate confirmation of any casualties.
Yonhap reported earlier that a South Korean ship fired shots toward an unidentified target in the direction of North Korea. The military official confirmed that shots were fired but said the object detected by radar may have been a flock of birds.
Baeknyeong Island, four hours' by boat from the port of Incheon, is the westernmost point of South Korea and is a key military post for South Korea because of its proximity to the North.
