A welcoming ceremony was being held at the time at the port to mark the safe return of the vessel that had been operating in the waters of the Gulf of Aden off Somalia for escorting ships and doing an anti-piracy mission for six months.

"The sailors appear to have been injured as the rope hit them when it suddenly snapped," a Nay officer said.

The five officers were taken to nearby hospitals after the accident. But one of them, whose identity is withheld, died while under treatment, they said.

They belonged to the troops of the Cheonghae Unit that was stationed in waters off Somalia as the country's first overseas naval unit to help the safe passage of ships through the pirate-ridden gulf. (Yonhap)