THREE men aboard the South Korean fishing boat Dong Woo have died after inhaling gases from rotting squid guts, a cargo destined to be salted and served as a delicacy in Korea and Japan. On Sunday, rescuers found the men dead in a hold and the captain, the sole survivor, unconscious beside them.
The case is not as bizarre as it seems. “It is common for the hold of fishing vessels to contain gases that kill the crew,” says Dan Pauly of the University of British Columbia in Canada. The International Maritime Organization says asphyxiation in a closed space causes 4 per cent of accidental deaths…
