Arrest warrant sought for head of ill-fated Stella Daisy operator

BUSAN, Jan. 23 (Yonhap) -- Maritime police said Wednesday they have requested the prosecution obtain a warrant to arrest the head of a shipping company that owned a missing cargo ship that sank in the South Atlantic two years ago.

The Busan Coast Guard said the writ has been requested against Kim Wan-joong, chairman of Polaris Shipping, which operated the Stella Daisy, and two other officials of the same company on the charge of violation of shipping safety law.

A court hearing is set for Thursday to decide on his arrest, it added.

The 266,000-ton ore carrier carrying eight South Korean and 16 Filipino sailors went missing in waters near Uruguay on April 1, 2017. Only two Filipino crew members were rescued and the rest remain unaccounted for.

No cause for the sinking has been determined. The South Korean Coast Guard has been probing the case.

The police plan to press further charges, including negligent homicide, against the chairman after conducting a deep-sea search for the vessel. They plan to wrap up the investigation by the end of next month.

The Marshal Islands-flagged ship had departed Rio de Janeiro on March 26 and was sailing off Uruguay when it put out a distress call.

The ship operator and victims' families later agreed on a settlement, the detailed terms of which were never disclosed to public.

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