What happened
On February 23, 2011, at approximately 8:20 pm local time, an Agusta Westland AW139 operated by the Korean Coast Guard crashed into shallow waters roughly 70 miles west of JeJu International Airport, Republic of Korea.
The helicopter had departed from Jeju International Airport to perform a medical evacuation, picking up an officer from a patrol ship located in the waters west of the island. Shortly after the passenger was on board, the command center lost all communication with the aircraft.
At the time of the accident, there were 4 crewmembers and 1 passenger on board. There were 0 fatalities and 0 injuries reported among the crew at the time of the initial report, though the passenger's body was recovered with the wreckage on March 24, 2011. The search for the 4 crewmembers of aircraft B516 was ongoing at the time of the report.