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| Situation Update No. 2 Ref.no.: EX-20100326-25463-KOR
Situation Update No. 2
On 2010-03-26 at 20:22:23 [UTC]
Event: Explosion
Location: South Korea West Sea Baengnyeong Island area Number of Missing: 40 person(s)
Number of Evacuated: 58 person(s)
Situation: A South Korean naval vessel has sunk in waters near North Korea after an explosion ripped through the ship and more than 40 crew are still missing. The ship - reported to have 104 crew on board - sank off the coast of South Korean-controlled Baengnyeong Island close to the disputed maritime border with North Korea. According to an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the explosion occurred about 10.45 pm local time, but the exact cause was not immediately clear. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported the explosion near the stern of the 1,200-ton corvette and an early report suspected a torpedo attack from a North Korean ship. Another South Korean ship reportedly fired on an unidentified target in the direction of North Korea, but South Korea's government played down concerns that it was an attack. Fears of North Korean hostility caused ripples on Wall Street, where share prices dipped partly on geopolitical concerns, and the South Korean currency dropped against the dollar. "It is premature to discuss the cause of this sinking," presidential Blue House spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye said. "It is not clear whether North Korea was involved." The incident comes amid heightened tension between the two Koreas, which remain in a state of war because their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953. |  | | | |
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