A group of Vietnamese tourists have ‘vanished’ into thin air when they were visiting the South Korean resort island of Jeju, local media reported on Friday.

The 46 disappeared people are among 155 Vietnamese vacationers who started visiting the island for a six-day trip on Tuesday, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

These visitors from Vietnam, as well as other countries that are not linked to terrorism, are allowed to enter and stay on Jeju without a visa for up to 30 days on tourism purpose, according to a special act applicable for the island.

The local immigration office is therefore investigating if they were trying to look for illegal employment in South Korea, according to Yonhap.

The Vietnamese will be charged with violating the special act that grants them the visa-free entry to Jeju if they are caught going outside the island, the news agency quoted an immigration official as saying.

In the meantime, if they are caught over illegal employment, they will be charged with the violation of immigration control law, the official added.

However, if they are cleared of suspicion, the disappeared Vietnamese tourists can leave the country on Sunday as planned, according to the official.

A major tour organizer in Ho Chi Minh City told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper late Friday that there were cases when Vietnamese people attempted to stay illegally in South Korea after finish their tour packages.

But most of such cases happened ashore, mostly in Seoul, the company said.

According to Yonhap, South Korea authorities have also caught nine men and one woman who attempted to flee the island earlier this week. These people are under investigation, the news agency said, citing the local immigration office.

The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) representative in Vietnam also told Tuoi Tre that it has yet to be briefed about the group of Vietnamese tourists on Jeju.

The director of outbound tour at another Ho Chi Minh City-based travel firm said the disappeared tourists will be detected and deported by local authorities “sooner or later.”

It is almost impossible for them to bypass all security checks, while it is a long distance to go from Jeju to the mainland, the source said.

The director added that a typical tour from Vietnam to Jeju lasts for six days and five nights, and tourists will travel their by air charter.

Vietnamese tourists are very fond of such a tour package thanks to the visa exemption, he added.

In 2015 some 170,000 Vietnamese tourists visited South Korea, up around 20 percent from a year earlier, according to the KTO.

Jeju is known as the Hawaii of South Korea as it features such natural wonders as waterfalls, white sand beaches and a volcano on the country’s highest mountain at the center of the island, according to CNN.

A popular holiday destination for travelers from not only South Korea but also China, Japan and Vietnam, Jeju attracted some 2.3 million foreign tourists in 2014, according to Reuters.

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