Marine goes missing during search operation

After days of monsoon rain left at least 44 dead, clear weather has emerged across the country, but danger from swollen rivers and strong torrents of water remained Wednesday.

According to the Marine Corps on Wednesday, a private from the First Marine Division's artillery battalion, who was searching for missing people around the Bomun Bridge on the Naeseong River in Yecheon-gun, North Gyeongsang Province, was swept away by a rapid stream at around 9:10 a.m. Marines were deployed to search for five missing people in the Yecheon-gun area, after the region was hit by a deadly landslide Saturday.

During the search, a man believed to be the missing Marine was spotted, but he was swept away again before the search team could rescue him. The man reportedly appeared to be unconscious at the time. As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, the Marine was yet to be found. Meanwhile, the body of a man in his 70s who went missing Saturday was found in the stream of Seokgwancheon at around 11 a.m. Wednesday.

In Daejeon, a teenage boy who was swept away after approaching the swollen Daejeoncheon was found dead four hours later.

Fire authorities and police began searching for the boy after a friend reported the accident at around 12:50 a.m. on Wednesday. They recovered his body hundreds of meters away from the missing spot at around 5 a.m.

The accident occurred even though the city of Daejeon had blocked roads near Daejeoncheon since Tuesday afternoon and restricted the access of pedestrians.