The Korea Herald

소아쌤

Wounded captain of rescued S. Korean freighter arrives home

By 문예빈

Published : Jan. 30, 2011 - 11:22

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The seriously wounded captain of a South Korean freighter freed from Somali pirates was flown home from Oman Saturday for treatment, about a week after he survived shooting during a commando operation to rescue the vessel.

The 58-year-pld captain was immediatey taken to Ajou Hospital in Suwon. (Yonhap News) The 58-year-pld captain was immediatey taken to Ajou Hospital in Suwon. (Yonhap News)

A special ambulance jet carrying Seok Hae-kyun landed at a military airport, south of Seoul, at 10:33 p.m (Korean time) after around 11 hours of flight from Salalah, the capital city of Oman.

The 58-year-old captain was immediately taken to Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, a provincial city 60 kilometers south of Seoul, for treatment and possibly new surgery.

His condition has not changed much from before he left Oman, officials said, indicating that the long flight did not deteriorate his health status. Previously, doctors described his condition as grave.   

Seok was shot three times by pirates during the Jan. 21 operation in which South Korean commandos rescued the freighter Samho Jewelry. He was the only one wounded among the 21 crew members of the 11,500-ton chemical carrier that was seized by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea on Jan. 15.

In Oman, he underwent two rounds of surgery to remove bullets and attach leg bones that had been fractured by gunshots. He had been taken to an intensive care unit for recovery.   

South Korea sent a special plane and a medical team to Salalah to airlift home the captain, who remains unconscious, and checked if his medical condition was fit for a long flight.   

The ambulance jet carrying Seok took off from the airport in Salalah at 11:37 a.m. (Korean time), officials said. The departure was delayed by a few hours as more time was needed to make sure the plane had the right equipment and medicines, they said.

Two doctors and a nurse were taking care of Seok during the flight.

Doctors said the decision to take Seok home does not mean that his condition has deteriorated.

 "Treatment of patients with serious wounds like Seok cannot be completed with a round of surgery," said Lee Kook-jong, an Ajou University Hospital doctor heading the medical team. "We decided to bring him to South Korea because he should be treated under a long-term plan."

In South Korea, Ajou University Hospital officials stepped up preparations to receive Seok. Officials said he will undergo a series of examinations upon arrival at the hospital. The hospital put surgeons, orthopedic doctors and neurosurgeons on standby for possible operations.

"We have prepared beds for him at the emergency room and the intensive care unit," an official at the hospital said. "We are also restricting ordinary people from accessing the hallway through which Captain Seok will be coming."

President Lee Myung-bak wished Seok a quick recovery and instructed aides to take every measure to provide him with the best treatment, presidential spokesman Hong Sang-pyo said. Lee also ordered that his own doctor and other medical specialists bedispatched to help care for Seok, Hong said.

The captain is credited with helping the rescue operation go successfully. Officials said the captain stalled for time by steering the ship in a zigzag after armed pirates ordered that the vessel move toward the Somali coast.

During the rescue operation, the commandos killed eight pirates and captured five, while rescuing all 21 crew members of the Samho Jewelry. None of the crew member were seriously injured, other than the captain.

According to a government source in Seoul, the five captive Somali pirates, now detained in an isolated room of the South Korean destroyer Choi Young, will be brought to South Korea on Sunday via a royal jet of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

South Korea had once considered sending a military plane to airlift the pirates but finally gave up the plan due to problems with passage through foreign countries' airspace.

Three South Korean commandos were slightly wounded during a brief gun battle three days before the rescue operation. Two of them arrived in South Korea on Friday and were taken to a military hospital. (Yonhap News)



(The Korea Herald) (The Korea Herald)

<관련 기사>

<국내 이송 석해균 선장 무슨 수술받았나>

부상 부위 5곳, 패혈증 증세..배, 양다리 등 4곳 수술

29일 밤 중동 오만에서 특별기편으로 국내로 이송된 삼호주얼리호 석해균(58) 선장은 30일 새벽 경기도 수원 아주대병원에서 3시간10분간에 걸친 1차 수술을 받았다.

석 선장은 지난 21일 '아덴만 여명작전' 당시 복부와 다리 등에 총상을 입고 오만 현지병원에서 치료를 받아왔다.

아주대병원은 29일 오후 11시30분 병원에 도착한 석 선장을 상대로 CT 검사와 오만에서 가져온 방사선 필름 등을 검토한 결과 석 선장의 부상부위는 총 5곳인  것으로 파악했다.

복부 총상으로 간과 대장이 파열됐고 왼쪽 손목 위쪽과 왼쪽 넓적다리, 오른쪽 무릎 위에서 개방성 복합골절이 확인됐다.

이 때문에 오른쪽 겨드랑이부터 허벅지에 이르기까지 광범위하게 근육과 근막이 괴사하면서 다량의 고름이 배출되고 있으며 패혈증과 DIC(범발성 혈액응고이상)  증세를 보이고 있다.

석 선장은 오만에서 이들 부상 부위 가운데 총상으로 여러 조각으로 분쇄된  왼쪽 팔과 대장, 간 파열 부위를 수술한 것으로 확인됐다.

이후 석 선장은 30일 오전 0시15분부터 3시간10분간 패혈증의 주된 원인으로 지목되는 오른쪽 배의 괴사성 근막염과 농양을 제거하는 수술을 받았다.

아주대병원 수술팀은 오른쪽 배 총탄구멍을 비롯해 15㎝가량을 광범위하게 절개하고 나서 고름을 배출시키고 염증 괴사 조직을 절제했다.

또 총탄으로 분쇄 골절된 왼쪽 손목 부위에서 확인한 다량의 이물질, 오른쪽 무릎 위와 왼쪽 넓적다리 부위에서 괴사한 조직과 고름을 각각 제거했다.

특히 양쪽 다리를 수술하는 과정에서 오만에서 미처 빼내지 못했던 총알 2개를 제거하기도 했다.

아주대병원 의료팀은 외상환자의 생명에 위협이 되는 패혈증 치료에 집중하는 한편, 석 선장의 상태를 지켜보면서 연부조직과 골절 부위에 대한 단계적 수술을 진행할 계획이다.

유희석 아주대병원장은 "오늘 치료의 핵심은 패혈증의 주된 원인으로 추정되는 병변들을 집중 제거하는 것이었다"며 "앞으로 수술 부위에 대한 2차 감염 예방을 위해 항생제 및 전해질 치료에 집중하고 경과를 지켜보면서 추가 수술 계획을 잡을 것"이라고 말했다.

아주대병원은 외상외과, 일반외과, 정형외과, 성형외과, 신경외과, 흉부외과 등으로 전담 수술팀을 구성해 석 선장의 치료에 집중하고 있다. (연합뉴스)