At Least 9 Killed By 30 Foot Wave
Korean Times
Korean Times
At least nine people including two children were killed when they were swept away by a high wave hitting a breakwater on the West Coast, Sunday, according to coastguard officials there.
Photo: A man looks at a giant wave breaking on the coast
Fourteen other people were injured and some were still missing as of 11:00 p.m. Among the injured, two are in critical condition, seven sustained minor injuries and five were sent home after treatment, the coastguard said. The exact number of casualties is expected to increase amid a conflicting number of victims.
The wave as high as 10 meters slammed into the breakwater on Jukdo in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, witnesses said. Patrol boats are searching the area for survivors.
Witnesses said that a tidal wave hit anglers and tourists on the structure and nearby rocks.
``The sea water receded at once like an ebb tide and then a high wave smashed into the breakwater and rocks sweeping anglers and tourists into sea,'' a witness said.
Another witness, Koh Myung-rae, who runs a restaurant at the scene said, ``I rushed out of my home at the thundering sound and heard screaming. I saw some bodies floating in the sea.'' He said it was the first time for him to see such a disaster during his 20 years of doing business there.
Why So Sudden, High Wave
Kim Ki-deok, a 45-year-old resident in the area, said that the high tidal wave abruptly hit anglers and tourists. ``The high wave came so suddenly from a relatively calm sea and swept dozens of people off the breakwater.''
The wave, which subsided about 10 minutes after hitting the coast at 12.41 p.m., pulled nearly 50 people into the sea. Fishing boats on the scene rescued about 30 people right after the incident.
Criticism has risen about a poor warning system. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) failed to issue any alerts on high waves.
Weather officials said it was unclear how such a wave was so abruptly created in the absence of an earthquake or strong wind. They conjectured that a strong undersea current hit the man-made breakwater producing the higher-than-usual wave.
``We are still investigating what exactly caused it,'' a KMA official said. ``But it seems that some strong undersea current grew into a sudden, larger wave after hitting the artificial bulwark.''
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/05/117_23613.html
www.standeyo.com/NEWS/08_Earth_Changes/080505.NK.30ft.wave.html