Busan shark slips past rescue net, returns to canal Saturday
The 3.5-meter (11.5-foot) shark known as Bukang-i crossed back into Busan’s North Port canal, undoing authorities’ latest effort to guide it out to sea.
Crowds gather to take photos and say goodbye to Bukang-i, a shark that had been staying for 15 days in an artificial canal at North Port Waterfront Park in Dong District, Busan, during a second operation to guide it back to sea on Oct. 2.
SONG BONG-GEUN
A shark that has been living in a canal at Busan's North Port Waterfront Park for more than two weeks swam back into the canal on Saturday, undoing a second attempt by authorities to guide it out to sea.
The 3.5-meter (11.5-foot) shark, nicknamed Bukang-i, had been moved toward the canal's exit during a rescue operation on Friday. But it crossed back over a net that authorities had installed and returned to the inner part of the canal, where it had been staying.
The shark passed over the large net set up during Friday's operation at around noon on Saturday, according to Yonhap News Agency. It has since been seen between the park's Footbridge No. 4 and Footbridge No. 5, where it was often spotted before.
On Friday, the Busan Coast Guard and other authorities installed a 50-meter-long, 6.8-meter-high net near Footbridge No. 4. They then dragged the net toward Footbridge No. 6, closer to the sea, to push the shark out of the canal.
But the net got caught on the canal floor, and the shark stopped moving toward the sea. Authorities halted the operation and fixed the net in place about 100 meters from the canal exit. They planned to use the net to keep the shark from returning to the inner canal, while waiting for it to leave for the sea on its own.
The shark circled around the net, apparently looking for a gap, before eventually getting past it. The progress made on Friday in moving the shark close to the exit was undone within a day, leaving rescue authorities with a difficult decision.
The Busan city government and other authorities had planned to watch over the long weekend from Saturday to Monday, which began with the National Foundation Day holiday, to see whether the shark would make its way out to sea on its own.
Crowds again gathered at the park on Saturday after news spread that the shark had returned to the inner canal.
More than 700,000 people have visited the park since the shark was first spotted.
The Busan Infrastructure Corporation and other related agencies have stepped up patrols ahead of expected crowds during the holiday.
BY PARK JONG-SUH [[email protected]]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
