[Yonhap News Photo]
State forensic experts believe three Chinese fishermen may have been suffocated after inhaling smoke in a fire caused by stun grenades South Korean coastguard commandos hurled in an operation to stop illegal fishing.
The coastguard in the southwestern port city of Mokpo refused to assume their responsibility, insisting the vessel's defiant captain should be blamed for triggering a deadly standoff near Hong Island on September 29.
The outcome of a probe by the National Forensic Service (NFS), based on an autopsy and a field survey, was released Friday by coastguard authorities in Mokpo.
The NFS suggested that flash-bang grenades used by coastguard officers were believed to have ignited inflammable materials.
The fire started when coastguard officers leaped into the drift-net fishing boat manned by 17 fishermen and hurled stun grenades through the broken window of the locked steering house, according to an earlier coastguard report. The boat and its surviving crew have been sent to Mokpo.
A flash-bang grenade is a non-lethal explosive device designed to produce a blinding flash of light and an intensely loud "bang" without causing permanent injury. The heat created, however, can ignite flammable materials such as fuel.
Coastguard operations have become risky as Chinese fishermen often used steel pipes, knives, and other weapons.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
