Two more bodies found from South Korea helicopter crash, two people still missing

SEOUL (AFP) - South Korean rescuers retrieved two bodies believed to be among four that remained missing after their chopper crashed into the sea shortly after taking off from islets disputed with Japan, officials said on Sunday (Nov 3).

The helicopter had just picked an injured fisherman up from Dokdo, which is known as Takeshima in Japan, when it went down last Thursday night.

The Coast Guard said the two bodies found early Sunday were both male with one believed to be a fireman but added that it was still trying to identify them.

On Saturday, three bodies were located. One was found inside the crashed helicopter sitting upside down on the sea bed at a depth of 72m and 600m south of the islets, while the other two were found in the water nearby, a Coast Guard representative told reporters.

The bodies were found by an unmanned submarine, although divers would attempt to retrieve them manually for fear using the submarine's "robot-arm" could damage the remains.

Dozens of divers were scouring the waters for the two victims that remain missing, authorities said, and Navy and Coast Guard vessels, as well as helicopters and airplanes, have been mobilised for the search operation.

The crashed chopper is a Eurocopter EC225, made by the European aerospace corporation Airbus.

The seven people on board were five rescuers, the fisherman and a civilian.

Seoul has controlled the islets in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, since 1945, when Tokyo's colonial rule on the peninsula ended, while Japan still claims sovereignty over them.