(2nd LD) Ship, 5 crew members missing near Dokdo

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with new developments; CHANGES dateline)
DONGHAE, South Korea, Oct. 18 (Yonhap) -- Rescuers were searching Sunday for five
sailors missing after their vessel apparently sunk amid bad weather off the
nation's east coast, coast guard officials said.

The 118-ton ship Hwangyeong, which means environment in Korean, lost
communication as of 1:37 a.m. Sunday morning in waters 65km northeast of Dokdo,
while collecting waste fishing nets, officials said.
The vessel was feared to have sunk amid strong winds and high waves, according to
the officials.
Five patrol boats and two Navy helicopters were mobilized for the search
operations, but they failed to find the missing vessel as of 7:30 p.m., other
than a thin belt of oil slicks in the area where the ship was last heard from and
a helmet believed to be that of one of the missing sailors.
"Intense search operations are underway at the area where the oil slicks were
found, but bad weather hampered operations," said an official at the Donghae
coast guard.
The official said the patrol boats would continue search operations overnight.
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