Three bodies found within cabins of S. Korean sunken ferry
First bodies found within cabins of S. Korean sunken ferry
Captain of sunken South Korean ferry arrested
A Buddhist monk prays for missing passengers, including many schoolchildren, who were on the South Korean ferry Sewol, which sank off Jindo. The monk accompanied family members who gathered in Jindo on Friday. Issei Kato / Reuters
South Korea investigates vessel's crew members as weather worsens
A junior officer was steering a South Korean ferry when it capsized two days ago, investigators said on Friday, as rescuers battled strong tides and murky waters to search for hundreds of missing, many of them schoolchildren, feared trapped in the vessel.
Local media said the Sewol ferry may have made a sharp turn during its journey on Wednesday, which caused its cargo to shift and the boat to list sharply and begin to sink.
Investigators declined to comment on the reports.
Twenty-eight passengers are listed as dead, 179 have been rescued and 268 are missing, presumed trapped in the vessel, out of 475 passengers and crew. The ship was sailing from the port of Incheon to the holiday island of Jeju.
Many of the missing are teenagers from a school on the outskirts of Seoul, and hopes are fading that any will be found alive.
"We cannot even see the ship's white color. Our people are just touching the hull with their hands," Kim Chun-il, a diver from Undine Marine Industries, told relatives gathered near the site of the rescue effort in the port city of Jindo.
Kim said two divers had to return to the surface when an air pump stopped and said strong tides were impeding the rescue.
Rescuers have pumped air into the vessel, but divers have not yet entered areas of the ship where many of the missing are believed to be.
Coast Guard officials have said the investigation was focused on possible crew negligence, problems with cargo stowage and structural defects of the vessel, although the ship appears to have passed all of its safety and insurance checks.
The captain, Lee Joon-seok, faces criminal investigation, which is standard procedure in South Korea.
Lee, 69, and the company that owns the ship have apologized for the loss of life, although neither has admitted responsibility.
Investigators said Lee may not have been on the bridge at the time of the accident and the vessel was being steered by the third mate, although shipping crew said this was standard practice.
The ferry went down in calm conditions and was following a frequently traveled 400 km route. Although relatively close to shore, the area was free of rocks and reefs.
Captain, crew blamed
Parents of the missing schoolchildren blamed the ship's captain for the tragedy after he and shipping company officials made emotional apologies for the loss of life.
Some heckled South Korean President Park Geun-hye when she visited the site on Thursday.
Witnesses have said that the captain and some of the crew left the vessel while others instructed passengers to remain in place as it began to sink.
Relatives were in mourning overnight in a hospital in Mokpo, close to Jindo, which is acting as a rescue center. Some of them spoke bitterly of the captain.
"How could he tell those young kids to stay there and jump from the sinking ship himself?" said Ham Young-ho, grandfather of 17-year-old Lee Da-woon, who was confirmed dead.
The captain has not made any public statement on whether or why he may have left the vessel before many of the passengers.
Prosecutors and police said Friday they have asked a court to issue arrest warrants for the captain.
The ferry owner's record is also under investigation, and documents were removed from its headquarters in Incheon on Friday.
Chonghaejin Marine Co Ltd, the owner of the vessel, is an unlisted company that operates five ships. It reported an operating loss of 785 million won ($756,000) last year.
According to South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service, a government body, Chonghaejin is "indirectly" owned by two sons of the owner of a former shipping company called Semo Marine that went bankrupt in 1997.
Sewol is 20 years old and built in Japan and was acquired secondhand by the Korean operator.
Arrest warrants sought for captain, two sailors of sunken S.Korean ferry
Arrest warrants were sought Friday for a captain and two sailors of the sunken South Korean ferry, which capsized and sank in waters off the country's southwestern coast Wednesday.
South Korean prosecutors filed for arrest warrants for the 69- year-old captain surnamed Lee, the third mate and the helmsman of the submerged vessel, which carried 475 passengers, mostly high school students, local media reported.
The captain, who was one of the first to abandon the ship, has already been arrested on charges of abandonment resulting in death, professional negligence and violation of rescue act. The two crew members were charged with violation of similar laws.
The additional punishment law on specific crimes was applied to the crew members as they escaped from the ship without making efforts to evacuate passengers first.
Earlier in the day, prosecutors said the third mate took the helm of the submerged ship at the last minutes before the ship sank into the waters.
The prosecutors told a press briefing that the third mate conned the ship at the last time when it was sinking and testimonies on where the captain was when the ship was sinking have been conflicting.
The rescued captain and crew members had been questioned by prosecutors to figure out why the ship sank. The captain came back to the steering room after the ship began tilting.
The 6,825-ton "Sewol" passenger ferry capsized and sank off Jindo Island, near the southwestern tip of the Korean Peninsula, on Wednesday morning.
The ferry disaster was believed to have been caused by a sudden turn in direction. The ship made an abrupt turn at about 8:48 a.m. local time Wednesday. The second turn was suddenly made four minutes later.
The Coast Guard received a distress signal from the ship at 8: 55 a.m., and the ferry remained afloat for some two and a half hours with its body tilting.
The abrupt turn was estimated to have moved some 180 cars and trucks and over 1,100 tons of cargo on the deck of the ship to one side, driving the ship to lean to the port side gradually.
While the captain and several crew members left the ferry, many passengers were left behind and failed to evacuate timely.
The ferry's regular captain who had been on leave was replaced by the arrested captain, who the ship's operator Chonghaejin Marine said is a veteran with eight years of experience on the Incheon-Jeju Island route.
Prosecutors searched the operator's headquarters, seizing documents and records.
One more body found near sunken S.Korean ferry, 29 confirmed dead
One more body was found Saturday in waters near a South Korean ferry, which sank off the country's southwestern coast on Wednesday, local broadcaster YTN reported citing the South Korean Coast Guard.
The body, identified as female, was spotted 150m away from the submerged vessel when divers were conducing nighttime search operations.
Death toll has kept rising as search operations continued, with 29 people confirmed dead. The number of missing passengers was 273, and another 174 people were rescued.
Coast guard, navy and private divers were continuing search and rescue operations at night. The operations at the site of the accident will last until 6 a.m. Saturday.
The divers reached the entrance of passenger cabins of the ferry after a three-hour-long attempt late Friday to make their way into there, but the divers failed to enter into the cabins. No survivor has been reported yet.
The 6,825-ton passenger ferry, "Sewol," capsized and sank off Jindo Island near the southwestern tip of South Korea. Most of the missing were believed to be trapped inside the sunken vessel.
The 476 passengers aboard the upturned vessel included 325 high school students and 15 teachers on the way for a four-day field trip. The ship departed from South Korea's western port city of Incheon Tuesday night for the southern resort island of Jeju.
Vice high school principal on board sunken ferry hangs himself after being rescued
A vice principal of South Korea's Danwon High School, of which hundreds of students were still missing in a ferry disaster, was found dead Friday afternoon, local media reported.
The 52-year-old deputy principal surnamed Kang was found hanging himself from a tree on a hill near an indoor gym on Jindo Island, where parents of the missing students were staying, at around 4:05 p.m., police said.
The senior teacher, who was known to have accused himself of his survival when hundreds of students remained unaccounted for, disappeared from Thursday night, said the police who searched for him for some 15 hours.
No last will of him was found at the scene, but he was suspected to have killed himself out of a sense of guilt.
Kang was rescued by a helicopter Wednesday when the 6,825-ton passenger ship, "Sewol," capsized and sank off Jindo Island near the southwestern tip of South Korea.
Among the 475 passengers aboard the sunken vessel were 325 high school students and 15 teachers on their way for a four-day field trip. The ship departed from South Korea's western port city of Incheon Tuesday night for the southern resort island of Jeju.
A total of 75 students from the high school in Ansan, a Seoul suburb, were rescued Wednesday, but 11 students have been confirmed dead, with 239 others still missing.
