Rescue operations under way for passengers aboard a leisure fishing boat that overturned off South Korea’s southern coast on Jan. 11, 2019. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — The government said Monday that it will kick off a service used to determine the locations of shipwrecks via text messages later this week.
The Ministry of Interior and Safety and Korea Coast Guard have jointly developed the service, dubbed Marine Accident Location Text Notification Service.
“We tested the service last month, and will launch it on Tuesday,” the ministry said.
According to the service, smartphone users who are shipwrecked can send distress messages to the coast guard, which in turn, send them reply messages containing an URL address.
Then the stranded people just click the URL address to automatically send information on their locations — latitude, longitude and coordinates.
Till now, the coast guard has gotten such information via Hae (sea) Road, a maritime safety app, or GPS, which have inconveniences or information errors.
“Any smartphone user will now be able to use the new service without downloading the app when they have marine accidents,” the ministry said.
The number of shipwrecks rose from 2,740 in 2015 to 2,839 in 2016, 3,160 in 2017 and 3,434 last year as water leisure activities, including sea fishing, gradually gain popularity.
(Yonhap)
