The sinking of ''Namyoung-Ho'' () was a marine accident that occurred in the sea near

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

on December 15, 1970.

Overview

On December 15, 1970, the South Korean

ferryboat A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus. ...

''Namyoung'' sank in the Korea Strait. The vessel was heading from

Seogwipo-si Seogwipo (; ) is the second-largest city on Jeju Island, settled on a rocky volcanic coastline in the southern part of Jeju Province, South Korea. In July 2006, Seogwipo's boundaries were expanded to include the entire southern half of Jeju islan ...

to Seongsanpo Port near

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

, before it sank about away from

Yeosu Yeosu, formerly romanized as Yosu, is a coastal city located on the southern shore of South Korea. With a population of 268,823, Yeosu is the second largest city in South Jeolla Province. In 1998, the Old Yeosu City, Yeocheon City and Yeocheon C ...

and Jeollanam.

Boat

The ferry was a 362-ton vessel, with a reported capacity of 302 persons and 150 tons of

cargo In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in cas ...

Incident

On December 12, 1970, the ferry departed with 338 passengers on board en route to

Jeju island Jeju Island (Jeju language, Jeju/) is South Korea's largest island, covering an area of , which is 1.83% of the total area of the country. Alongside outlying islands, it is part of Jeju Province and makes up the majority of the province. The i ...

from

. The sinking on December 14 was blamed on overloading of the vessel, with initial reports stating that the ferry tilted to one side after 150 crates of tangerines had been placed on one side of the ship. Investigations revealed that the ''Namyoung'' had a capacity of 150 tons of cargo but was carrying 500 tons of cargo. Additionally, rescue was delayed as the original

SOS SOS is a Morse code distress signal (), used internationally, originally established for maritime use. In formal notation SOS is written with an overscore line (), to indicate that the Morse code equivalents for the individual letters of "SOS" a ...

from the ferry was either not received or ignored by the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a Maritime Security Regimes, maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with cust ...

, which contributed to the high casualty rate. There were a reported 326 deaths or missing persons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Namyoung-Ho Maritime incidents in South Korea Shipwrecks in the Yellow Sea Ferries of South Korea Maritime incidents in 1970 December 1970 in Asia 1970 in South Korea Ferry boat disasters

Overview

Boat

Incident

See also

References