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Prosecutors Seek Arrest Warrant for Captain of Capsized Ferry Prosecutors Seek Arrest Warrant for Captain of Capsized Ferry
(about 3 hours later)
JINDO, South Korea — Prosecutors in South Korea asked a court on Friday to issue arrest warrants for the captain of the capsized ferry, as well as for the third mate who was steering the ship at the time of the accident and another crew member. JINDO, South Korea — Prosecutors in South Korea on Friday sought to arrest the captain, third mate and another crew member of a ferry on charges of deserting their vessel and passengers after it capsized and leaving more than 270 people missing, many of them high school students on a trip to a resort island.
As hope dwindled that any of the hundreds of missing — including 236 students from Danwon High School — would be found, the school community was further rocked by news that the vice principal had been found dead, hanging from a tree, in an apparent suicide. Prosecutors asked the court to issue arrest warrants for Captain Lee Jun-seok, 69, and the 26-year-old third mate, who they said was steering the ship at the time of accident.
The vice principal, Kang Min-gyu, 52, had survived the ferry accident. The tree where he was found hanging was on a hill near the gymnasium where the families of the missing have gathered. The police said they suspected Mr. Kang had hanged himself. And as hope dwindled that any of the 236 missing students would be found alive, the high school was stunned Friday by more tragic news — the death of its vice principal in an apparent suicide.
On Friday, investigators said the ship’s captain, Lee Jun-seok, 69, who has been criticized for being among the first to leave the ship, was not at the steering house when the ferry, the Sewol, tilted and began sinking on Wednesday morning. The vice principal, Kang Min-kyu, 52, of Danwon High School, who survived the ferry accident on Wednesday, was found hanging from a tree on a hill near a gymnasium where families of the missing had gathered. The police suspected Mr. Kang had hanged himself.
“He temporarily left the steering command to his third shipmate,” said Park Jae-uk, a senior investigator. “We are investigating where exactly he was at the time.” The captain returned to the bridge as soon as the ship began tilting, he said. “It’s too much, being alive alone while more than 200 of my students are missing,” he wrote in a note found in his wallet, according to the police. “Please place all the blame on me because I was in charge of the trip. Please cremate my body and scatter the ashes where the ship sank. Perhaps I should be a teacher for those missing children in the other world.”
Mr. Lee is in custody, but a court will now rule on whether he should be formally arrested as prosecutors requested. On Friday, investigators said Mr. Lee, the ship’s captain, who has been criticized for being among the first to leave the sinking ship, was not at the steering house when the ferry, the Sewol, tilted and began sinking on Wednesday morning.
South Korean divers entered the capsized ferry on Friday, but officials warned that the work would be painstaking and difficult. One of the leaders of the diving effort, Hwang Dae-sik, said that underwater visibility at the site was so poor, and currents so rapid, that the work was “like moving against the wind of a typhoon while barely being able to see your palm.” Currents were moving diagonally across the hull, he said, creating swirls and making it tricky for divers to enter the ship. “He temporarily left the steering command to his third shipmate,” said Park Jae-uk, a senior investigator. “We are investigating where exactly he was at the time.”
“We have been trying to put ropes into the ship so that we can use them as guides as we crawl into the ship in the darkness and hopefully bring out missing people,” Mr. Hwang, a senior official with the Maritime Rescue and Salvage Association, said in an interview. “By Thursday, we placed those ropes into the fourth floor, and today we are using them to enter.” The captain returned to the bridge as soon as the ship began tilting, Mr. Park said. The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the third mate had a year of experience steering ships, five months of it on the 6,825-ton ferry, the Sewol.
Most of the passengers on the Sewol, the 6,825-ton ferry that tilted and sank Wednesday en route to the island of Jeju, had cabins on the fourth floor. But survivors said that at the time of the sinking, many people were trapped on the third floor, which had a cafeteria and a game room. Mr. Lee was in custody, but a court will rule on whether he should be formally arrested, as prosecutors requested. The move by prosecutors to arrest him came after more potential clues emerged as to how the ferry’s trip to the resort island of Jeju, which began Tuesday night in Incheon, a port west of Seoul, turned into one of South Korea’s worst disasters in decades. As of Friday afternoon, 29 deaths had been confirmed.
From the fourth floor, Mr. Hwang said, the divers hoped to expand their reach to other parts of the ship. Officials confirmed on Friday that they were investigating whether the ship, under the third mate’s command, made too sharp a turn on a curve in the sea route. They have raised the possibility that the vehicles and other heavy cargo on the ferry might not have been properly secured, in which case they could have slid to one side when the turn was made, causing the ship to tilt.
Despite the slow pace of the work, the news that the divers had entered the ship raised hopes among hundreds of parents at a gymnasium here that local officials have turned into a shelter for the families of the missing. Also Friday, prosecutors raided the offices of the ship’s owner, the Cheonghaejin Marine Company, and a shipyard to investigate allegations that Cheonghaejin added more cabin rooms, probably making the ship top-heavy, to accommodate more passengers after buying the 20-year-old ferry secondhand from Japan in 2012. Although the Sewol passed balancing and other safety tests, officials were looking into whether the structural change contributed to the accident.
As of Friday afternoon, 28 deaths had been confirmed, and 268 people were still unaccounted for. They were also investigating widespread accounts that the crew had urged passengers to stay in their quarters even as the ship was sinking, instructions that may have resulted in many people being trapped below decks.
Rescuers were also using high-pressure hoses to pump oxygen into the ship, which by Friday was underwater, with only a tiny tip of its hull occasionally appearing between the waves. The rescuers hope that the oxygen will reach people who might still be alive in any air pockets in the submerged vessel. On Friday evening, hundreds of students held a candlelight vigil for Mr. Kang, their vice principal, on the school ground in Ansan, a city south of Seoul. One student held a message that said: “We are waiting. Please come back alive.”
A crane arrived on the scene Friday and others were on their way, in preparation for the eventual salvaging of the vessel. But experts said it would take days, if not weeks, to complete the difficult task of raising the ship. On Thursday evening, families threw water bottles at fellow teachers who had visited the gymnasium and knelt before the families in apology. Mr. Kang was not there, and his colleagues had asked the police to find him.
The third day of rescue efforts also brought potential clues as to how the trip to the resort island of Jeju, which began Tuesday night in Incheon, a port west of Seoul, had turned into one of South Korea’s worst disasters in decades. “He must have felt a terrible sense of guilt,” said Whang Sang-min, a professor of psychology at Yonsei University in Seoul. “He must have suffered unbearable regrets for not going against the ship’s instruction and immediately evacuating his students.”
The Sewol was making a sharp turn in a shipping lane when it suddenly tilted Wednesday morning, a few hours before its scheduled arrival at Jeju off the southern coast of South Korea. Officials are still investigating whether the turn made under the third mate’s command was appropriate or too sharp, Mr. Park said. After two days of futile efforts, South Korean divers on Friday managed to enter the capsized ferry where many of the 273 missing people were feared to have been trapped when the ship sank. But officials warned Friday that the work would be painstaking and difficult.
“We are looking into whether it was the only reason” for the ship’s tilting, he said, “or if other factors were involved, such as the maintenance and operation of the ship.” One of the leaders of the diving effort, Hwang Dae-sik, said Friday that underwater visibility at the site was so poor and currents so rapid that the work was “like moving against the wind of a typhoon while barely being able to see your palm.” Currents were moving diagonally across the hull, creating swirls and making it tricky for divers to enter the ship, he said.
Officials have raised the possibility that vehicles and other heavy cargo on the ferry might not have been properly secured, in which case they could have slid to one side when the sharp turn was made, causing the ship to lose its balance. They were also investigating widespread accounts that the crew had urged passengers to stay in their quarters even after the ship began sinking, instructions that may have resulted in many people’s being trapped below deck. “We have been trying to put ropes into the ship so that we can use them as guides as we crawl into the ship in the darkness and hopefully bring out missing people,” Mr. Hwang, a senior official with the Maritime Rescue and Salvage Association, said in an interview.
Also on Friday, government investigators said they would find and punish the people who had sent text messages or social media posts purporting to be from missing students, saying they were alive on the ship and waiting for help. A police investigation found the messages to be false. Using such ropes, two divers managed to enter the ship’s cargo deck but returned without finding any missing people, officials said.
Despite the slow pace of the work and the days that have passed since the sinking, the news that the divers had entered the ship raised hope among hundreds of parents who have been waiting on this nearby island, hoping that survivors might yet be found.
Rescuers were also using high-pressure hoses to pump oxygen into the ship, which by Friday was completely underwater, a tiny tip of its hull occasionally appearing between the waves. The rescuers were hoping that the oxygen would reach people who might yet be alive in air pockets within the submerged vessel.
Four cranes have arrived on the scene Friday as officials prepared for the eventual salvaging of the vessel. But experts said it would take days, if not weeks, to complete the difficult task of raising the ship.