SEOUL, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Two bodies found near a sunken South Korean fishing boat was confirmed to be Vietnamese sailors, Yonhap news agency reported Wednesday citing the country's coast guard.
The 29-ton "Daeseong" vessel sank in waters about 76 km west of Chagwi islet, near the country's southern resort island of Jeju, on Nov. 19 after being engulfed by a fire.
Six South Korean and six Vietnamese sailors were aboard the ill-fated vessel. One 60-year-old South Korean sailor was found and taken to a hospital, where he passed away, on the day the sinking occurred.
On Sunday, two bodies were retrieved some 44 meters and 50 meters under the sea each near the sunken boat.
After the DNA identification, the two bodies were confirmed to have been Vietnamese sailors, both of whom were aged 32.
The bodies would be transferred to their families through the Vietnamese embassy.
According to the autopsy result, the two sailors appeared to die of carbon monoxide poisoning as soot was found in their bronchi along with traces of high temperatures in their internal organs.
Nine other sailors were still unaccounted for.
