The bereaved family of a Coast Guard officer who died after being dispatched on a rescue mission on Thursday has publicly accused the officer's superiors of not following protocols during the mission conducted earlier that day.
A cousin of the late Sgt. Lee Jae-seok took issue with the decision to dispatch the 34-year-old officer alone to the scene to rescue an elderly man who was stranded on a mud flat. "There were two people on call at the time, and I can't understand why my cousin went alone," he said at Lee's funeral, held in Incheon Thursday evening.
Lee was deployed to bring the man in his 70s to safety at around 3:30 a.m. on Thursday. After finding that the man had injured his foot, Lee gave the man his own life jacket and the pair swam toward safety.
Lee was swept away by the waves and was found with no vital signs and later pronounced dead.
According to the Coast Guard, drone operators notified them that the mud flat had been flooded nine minutes after Lee gave up his life jacket. A minute later, more officers were sent to the scene.
Lee's cousin claimed that Lee could have survived if additional officers had been sent immediately after the area was found to be flooded, and expressed doubt about sending just one person on a rescue mission.
Coast Guard officials said Lee was dispatched alone to check the situation, and it has not yet been confirmed whether he requested help upon finding the stranded man.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
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