2 dead, 4 missing after fishing boat collides with 23,000-ton vessel

  POHANG (Yonhap) -- A fishing boat on Tuesday collided with a merchant ship off South Korea's southeastern coast, leaving two dead and four others missing, Coast Guard officials said.

   The 74-ton local fishing boat was carrying seven crewmen when it collided with the 23,269-ton bulk carrier Inspiration Lake in waters some 22 miles off the southeastern port city of Pohang at around 2 p.m., officials said.

   Three of the fishermen -- two Koreans and one Vietnamese -- were rescued, but two of them, including the Vietnamese fisherman, were later pronounced dead. Another four -- three Koreans and one Chinese -- are still missing.

   "All of the crew members seem to have fallen into the water after the boat collided with the merchant vessel," an official source said. "We are investigating the details of the incident and searching for the missing four."