This photo is not directly related to this article. Officers of the Coast Guard conduct a training exercise near Sokcho Port in Gangwon Province on Tuesday. (Yonhap)
This photo is not directly related to this article. Officers of the Coast Guard conduct a training exercise near Sokcho Port in Gangwon Province on Tuesday. (Yonhap)

A South Korean Coast Guard officer who went missing after giving his life jacket to a stranded man during a sea rescue was found dead, officials said Thursday.

The officer, in his 30s, was found at 9:41 a.m. in waters off Ongjin-gun, Incheon, showing no vital signs, according to the Korea Coast Guard in Incheon. It was nearly six hours after he went missing. He was later pronounced dead.

The officer was deployed on a rescue mission at around 3:30 a.m. on Thursday for a man in his 70s, who was stranded on a tidal flat during an incoming tide. The officer found that the man had injured his foot and gave him his life jacket, and the pair swam toward safety.

But while the elderly man was picked up by a helicopter, the Coast Guard officer went missing.


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com