[Anchor] YTN has exclusively obtained an audio file of a phone conversation between the late Coast Guard officer Lee Jae-seok, who died in the line of duty while conducting a solo rescue operation, and his on-duty team leader before the accident.
Officer Lee couldn’t find the person he was supposed to rescue at the scene and needed to go further into the mudflat. However, the team leader cited an incomprehensible reason for not reporting the rescue activity to the control room.
Reporter Bae Min-hyuk has the exclusive report.
[Reporter] Coast Guard officer Lee Jae-seok, who died in the line of duty, was dispatched on the early morning of the 11th last month at 2:07 a.m. following a report of a man trapped in a mudflat.
Officer Lee was searching alone for the person to be rescued when he received a call from the on-duty team leader at 2:30 a.m.
[The late Officer Lee Jae-seok / 2:30 a.m., March 11, phone conversation with on-duty team leader: Yes, Team Leader. (Isn’t he at the place where he was supposed to be?) No. I’ve just arrived. (Oh.) I can’t see him. Not yet. But I can hear a drone nearby.]
Officer Lee informed that he couldn’t see the person to be rescued and suggested they might need to go further into the mudflat.
[The late Officer Lee Jae-seok / 2:30 a.m., March 11, phone conversation with on-duty team leader: I think I need to go in a bit further to check. The water has almost receded, so I think I can go in.]
The team leader confirmed the situation repeatedly, and Officer Lee explained that the search area might be further than anticipated.
[On-duty team leader / 2:30 a.m., March 11, phone conversation with late Officer Lee Jae-seok: (So you haven’t met the person yet…) Yes, I haven’t. It seems to be quite far from here.]
Despite recognizing the difficulty in search, the team leader stated that the mission was not reported to the control room for an unclear reason.
[On-duty team leader / 2:30 a.m., March 11, phone conversation with late Officer Lee Jae-seok: (Okay, I haven’t told the control room yet. If I do, it will cause an uproar, so I just didn’t.)]
The call ended with Officer Lee saying he would continue the search.
Around 10 minutes later, at 2:42 a.m., Officer Lee mentioned needing more personnel. Even at 2:56 a.m., when water reached his waist and he reportedly took off his life jacket, there was no report to the control room.
Even at 3:09 a.m., when the drone patrol requested support due to dangerous conditions, the station responded independently.
The station team members on the field couldn’t find Officer Lee, and it wasn’t until 3:30 a.m. that they reported to the control room, 1 hour and 20 minutes after the initial report.
It was confirmed that Officer Lee had survived for a considerable time even after taking off his life jacket.
Criticism arises that if the situation had been reported to the control room and dealt with promptly, Officer Lee might have been saved.
This is Bae Min-hyuk for YTN.
Video editing: Lim Jong-mun
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