A South Korean cruise ship ran aground off the southwestern coast Tuesday, but all 109 people aboard the vessel have been rescued, coast guard officers said, according to Reuters.
The incident came as South Korea is still struggling to deal with the aftermath of April's ferry disaster that left more than 300 people dead or missing, Reuters reported.
The ship was stranded a short distance from the island of Hong-do, about 60 miles off the southwest coast, according to Reuters. Television images showed the vessel to be listing slightly, but it did not appear to be sinking.
The 171-ton ship was carrying 104 tourists and five crew members on Tuesday morning when it struck a rock in the water off the southwestern Jeolla province, coast guard officers said on the condition of anonymity citing department rules, according to Reuters.
Three people suffered minor injuries during the incident, a coast guard official told Reuters by telephone, Reuters reported.
Local TV footage showed small fishing boats approaching the partly submerged cruise ship while people were on deck, Reuters reported. The officers said the cause of the incident wasn't immediately known.
In a statement, the coast guard said it had asked the fishing boats to assist after receiving a distress call, as it would have taken its patrol vessels longer to reach the stricken vessel, according to Reuters.
After the Sewol ferry sank on April 16 killing more than 300 people, relatives of the dead and South Koreans as a whole expressed their anger and frustration with rescue efforts, Reuters reported .
The Sewol was found to be structurally defective, overloaded with cargo and had insufficient water in the ballast tank for balance when it capsized making a sharp turn, according to Reuters. Of the 476 people on board, 294 were killed, many of them students on a class trip. Ten people remain missing.
