Two North Korean sailors are dead and 11 missing after a Mongolia-flagged cargo ship sank off the southeastern coast of South Korea.

Three sailors were rescued by the South Korean Coast Guard after the distressed ship, Grand Fortune 1 sank early Friday.

South Korean officials deployed a search plane and a patrol ship to find survivors and rescued the first sailor around 5 a.m.

The other two survivors were rescued at 5:55 a.m. and 7:12 a.m. respectively. The three survivors are being treated on Jeju island, according to South Korean government officials.

It remains unclear why the cargo ship sank.

The ship was believed to have be coming from Chongjin in North Korea, headed to China, reported Yonhap, South Korea’s semi-official news agency.

It carried a Mongolian flag, but had an all-North Korean crew. The two countries are traditional allies and North Korea has been known to sail rented ships.

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