Three people have been confirmed dead and three others are still missing after their fishing boat sank in waters off New Zealand early Wednesday, according to Seoul 's foreign ministry. The accident took place at around 02:30 a.m. Korean time (17:30 GMT Tuesday) Wednesday some 400 miles (about 644 km) southeast Dunedin, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a press release. There are a total of 51 crew members on the 1,599-ton Oyang 70, including eight South Koreans, 36 Indonesians, six Filipinos and one Chinese. So far, three crew members, all Indonesians, have been confirmed dead, and three others, including one South Korean and two Indonesians, remained missing. The rest 45 people have been rescued by another fishing boat operating nearby, the ministry said. The cause of the accident is yet to be determined, and the rescue operation is still underway, the ministry said. 