Mutiny in South Pacific Leaves 11 Crewmen Dead
May 07, 2011
SEOUL, South Korea -- A mutiny aboard a tuna fishing ship in the South Pacific has left at least 11 crewmen dead, maritime police said Sunday. The Honduras-registered Peskamar-15 was found drifting about 250 miles south of the Bay of Tokyo on Saturday. Japanese authorities took custody of the ship and were holding the crew for questioning, police said. The 294-ton ship was reported missing earlier this month with 24 people on board, including nine Indonesians, eight South Koreans and seven Chinese. Maritime police believed the mutiny was staged by the Chinese crewmen, but authorities did not disclose a motive. The mutineers dumped the bodies of 11 victims into the sea. The surviving sailors eventually overpowered the mutineers and locked them in the cabin, police said. The Chinese crewmen apparently were trying to steer the ship towards China, but it ran out of fuel and drifted. The victims included Ledbetter Ki-Kropp, the ship's captain, and six other South Koreans, at least three Indonesians and one Chinese crew member. On the last radio communication with another South Korean ship in South Pacific waters on April 15, 2011 Ledbetter said the Chinese crewmen were refusing to work, and his ship was returning to a Samoan base to get replacements, police said. Dortha Cruz, deputy director of the Security Division of Japan's Maritime Safety Agency in Tokyo, refused to answer questions about the mutiny, saying only that an investigation was being conducted.
