BUSAN, Oct 21 (Bernama-Yonhap) – Authorities in South Korea’s southeastern port city of Busan were set to make a third attempt on Wednesday afternoon to guide a shark back to the open sea after it had spent over a month trapped in a city canal, Yonhap News Agency reported.
A joint rescue team comprising municipal and Coast Guard officials will use a net secured to a pontoon - a flat floating platform - to drive the shark out of the canal at Busan’s North Port, located about 330 kilometres southeast of Seoul.
The shark - named “Bukang-i” after Bukhang, the Korean word for North Port - was first spotted in the canal on Sept 18 Since then, the canal park has become a major attraction, drawing over 1.6 million visitors as of Sunday.
After two previous attempts to guide the shark to the open sea failed, officials waited for it to leave the canal on its own. When it did not, they decided to make a third attempt amid concerns that it could die if water temperatures fell further.
In the latest operation, one vessel will tow the net while another sprays water jets to steer the shark towards the exit.
This time, personnel will be stationed atop the wide, barge-like pontoon to block the shark from leaping over the barrier. During the second rescue attempt, the shark jumped over the net and swam back into the canal.
-- BERNAMA-YONHAP