SEOUL/WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A South Korean fishing boat sank Monday in freezing waters near Antarctica and five members of the crew were killed and 17 missing, New Zealand and South Korean authorities said.
Twenty members of the crew of the 614-tonne toothfish boat No 1 In Sung had been rescued by a ship.
The boat sank at 6.30 a.m. (5:30 p.m. British time) about 1,000 km (620 miles) north of Antarctica and 2,700 km (1,700 miles) south of New Zealand, the country's Rescue Coordination Centre said.
It was not known what caused the ship to sink and no distress call had been made, the centre said.
Two New Zealand and three South Korean vessels were searching for survivors. A New Zealand air force aircraft may be sent, but it would take about 8 hours to get there.
The water temperature is about 2 Celsius (35 Fahrenheit) which means someone would survive for about 10 minutes without proper equipment, the centre said.
(Reporting by Jack Kim and Adrian Bathgate; Editing by Robert Birsel)