POHANG -- The South Korean Coast Guard was searching for a fishing boat with six crew members aboard Friday after it made a distress call in choppy seas off the southeastern coast.

The Pohang Coast Guard said it received a report at 6:49 p.m. that the 9.77-ton crab fishing boat was flooding in waters some 42 kilometers east of Gyeongju.

Six crew members -- three South Koreans, two Vietnamese and one Korean-Chinese -- were aboard, officials said.   The Coast Guard and the Navy dispatched three aircraft and four vessels to the scene but have yet to find the boat, they said.

Minister of Interior and Safety Jeon Hae-cheol ordered the agency to mobilize all available resources to rescue the fishermen.

A wind and wave advisory has been issued for the area, where winds were whipping 12 to 14 meters per second and the waves were 2 to 2.5 ｍeters. (Yonhap)