Sunken Busan tugboat at 87 meters: Authorities turn to overseas deep-sea diving teams

The search for six missing people has reached a depth that makes an already difficult rescue operation even more challenging. The 286-ton tugboat TNS Catcher lies 87 meters beneath the sea off Busan.

The vessel overturned and sank on the afternoon of the 2nd while towing a large container ship southeast of Oryukdo. It now rests on the seabed about 6 kilometers southeast of Daebyeon Port in Gijang County.

On the sixth day after the accident, the Korea Coast Guard and the vessel’s operator were considering the deployment of overseas deep-sea divers. The central obstacle is the wreck’s depth. At 87 meters, it is more than twice the usual 30-to-40-meter limit for ordinary air diving.

At that depth, pressure sharply increases the risks of nitrogen narcosis and decompression sickness. A safe search requires divers to use a helium-oxygen breathing mixture or a saturation-diving system that acclimatizes the body to deep pressure.

South Korea’s private diving industry, however, has limited access to saturation-diving equipment, which can cost tens to hundreds of billions of won. The authorities and operator are therefore looking beyond domestic personnel as they pursue the missing crew.