SK prosecutors seek to extend detention of ferry’s crew
Print Edition
SOUTH Korean prosecutors investigating last week’s ferry disaster said yesterday they wanted to extend the detention of the captain and two other crew as they try to determine the cause of an accident that likely claimed more than 300 lives.
The Sewol ferry was on a routine 400 kilometer voyage from Incheon to the southern holiday island of Jeju in calm weather last Wednesday carrying 476 passengers and crew, among them 339 children and teachers on a high school outing.
Divers gained access to the hull of the Sewol for the first time overnight and the number of those confirmed dead rose steadily throughout the day by 25 to 58 dead with 244 still listed as missing.
A clearer picture started to emerge of the time around the capsize after coast guards released a recording of a conversation between vessel controllers and the ship.
Witnesses said the Sewol turned sharply before it began listing. It is still not clear why it turned. It took more than two hours for it to capsize completely but passengers were ordered to stay in their cabins.
According to the transcript, at 9.25am the controllers told the 69-year old Captain Lee Joon-seok to “decide how best to evacuate the passengers” and that he should “make the final decision on whether or not to evacuate.”
Lee was not on the bridge when the ship turned. Navigation was in the hands of a 26-year-old third mate in charge for the first time in the passage, according to crew members.
The transcript shows crew on the ship worried there were not enough rescue boats at the scene to take all the passengers. Witnesses said the captain and some crew members took to rescue boats before the passengers.
Lee said earlier he feared passengers would be swept away by the ferocious currents if they leapt into the sea, but he has not explained why he left the vessel.
Prosecutor Yang Joong-jin told a news conference in Mokpo, one of the centers for the investigation, that some crew said they had not received any safety training.
When the captain and two crew were arrested on Saturday, they were detained by police for 10 days and prosecutors for a further 10. If the new extension request is granted, they could be detained for 30 days.
Yang said prosecutors had also summoned 10 other people to give evidence, including other crew members and officials from the ferry’s owner Chonghaejin Marine Co Ltd.
Relatives of those listed as missing clashed briefly with police when about 100 of them tried to leave nearby Jindo Island by a road bridge to the mainland to take their protest to the capital city of Seoul.
Police blocked them and they later turned back.
“Bring me the body,” weeping mother Bae Sun-ok said of her child as she was comforted by two policemen at the bridge.
Later, the Minister for the Oceans and Fisheries Lee Ju-young was jostled and booed by relatives, more than 500 of whom have spent four days and nights cooped up in a gymnasium in the port city of Jindo.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
