Prosecutors indict Vietnamese fishermen on murder charges

Prosecutors said Wednesday they have indicted two Vietnamese fishermen on charges of murdering two South Koreans aboard a vessel in the Indian Ocean last month.

The Busan District Prosecutors' Office said the suspects, both aged 32, are accused of stabbing to death the 43-year-old captain and the 42-year-old engineer of the deep-sea fishing vessel Kwang Hyun 803 in waters near Seychelles.

The two arrived at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, earlier this month. 

(Yonhap)

During the investigation, the suspects said they confessed to committing the crimes after one of them had a quarrel with the boat's captain. The two Vietnamese men, who are cousins, said they killed the victims because they were worried that they would be ordered off the fishing vessel due to the fight.

The surviving fishermen who were on board testified there was no harsh physical assaults carried out by the captain or the engineer, though they upbraided some crew members verbally from time to time, according to prosecutors. (Yonhap)