By 3 News online staff
Seven Korean fishermen badly burnt in a fire that swept through a fishing boat in the Southern Ocean yesterday are on their way to the US Antarctic base for treatment.
The men were injured when a fire swept through Korean fishing boat the Jeong Woo 2 on Wednesday, and are being transported to McMurdo Base to receive medical attention.
They are being transported on the Nathaniel B Palmer, a research ship with medical facilities onboard. The captain expects to arrive at the base tomorrow, weather and ice conditions permitting.
Three of the men – two two Vietnamese and an Indonesian national - are reported as serious, but stable. Their injuries are understood to be second and third degree burns, with two having burns to 30 and 50 percent of their bodies.
The remaining four injured crew are reportedly in “good spirits” and are up and moving around.
The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) says it is maintaining regular radio schedules with the crew of the Nathaniel B Palmer
The injured men will be evacuated back to Christchurch Hospital as soon as all are on board.
The Jeong Woo 2 issued a mayday call from the Ross Sea near Antarctica about 3am on Wednesday. Two Korean fishing vessels, including sister ship Jeong Woo 3, raced to its aid.
RCCNZ confirmed 37 of the 40 sailors on the 51-metre boat had been rescued but three men are missing, believed to have been killed as the fire burned through the ship's accommodation block.
Maritime New Zealand says the surviving crew have confirmed the men did not make it out of the accommodation block after the fire started.
It is not known whether the bodies of the three dead crewmen – all Vietnamese – will be able to be recovered, as it is too unsafe to reboard the still-blazing vessel.
Plans are for the Jeong Woo 2’s sister ship, the Jeong Woo 3, to tow her outside Antarctic waters to minimize any potential effects on the Antarctic environment.
Determining the cause of the fire will be a matter for Korean maritime authorities.
Meanwhile, the Green Party is calling for the Ross Sea to be closed off to ships after the third major disaster in a little over a year.
Oceans spokesman Gareth Hughes says the incident should be a wake-up call for the Government.
Mr Hughes says a group of 500 international marine scientists have been campaigning to make the Ross Sea a marine protected area.
The distress call is the second to be sent from Antarctic waters recently.
The Russian fishing vessel Sparta hit ice in a similar position in the Ross Sea in mid-December.
It was repaired at sea over two weeks before going to Nelson, where it arrived on Tuesday.
In December 2010, a Korean fishing boat, No.1 Insung, sunk in the same area, with a loss of 22 lives.
3 News/NZN