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| Pilot Steering Ferry Had No Experience in Treacherous Waterway | Pilot Steering Ferry Had No Experience in Treacherous Waterway |
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| JINDO, South Korea — A 26-year-old third mate was steering a South Korean ferry through a notoriously treacherous waterway for the first time when it tilted and sank, prosecutors said on Saturday, as rescuers raced to find anyone alive among the 270 missing passengers. | JINDO, South Korea — A 26-year-old third mate was steering a South Korean ferry through a notoriously treacherous waterway for the first time when it tilted and sank, prosecutors said on Saturday, as rescuers raced to find anyone alive among the 270 missing passengers. |
| At a kilometer-long and 4.5 kilometers wide, the Maenggol Waterway has long provided a shortcut for ships trying to save fuel and time navigating the waters off the southwestern tip of the Korean Peninsula, which are dotted with islands. But the Maenggol has a reputation for the fastest and most unpredictable currents around the peninsula. | At a kilometer-long and 4.5 kilometers wide, the Maenggol Waterway has long provided a shortcut for ships trying to save fuel and time navigating the waters off the southwestern tip of the Korean Peninsula, which are dotted with islands. But the Maenggol has a reputation for the fastest and most unpredictable currents around the peninsula. |
| “It was her first time steering the ship through the Maenggol Waterway,” said Yang Joong-jin, a senior prosecutor who is taking part in the government’s investigation of the ferry sinking. “There is nothing legally wrong with that. But it does give us important data on how well qualified” was the third mate, Park Han-gyeol. | “It was her first time steering the ship through the Maenggol Waterway,” said Yang Joong-jin, a senior prosecutor who is taking part in the government’s investigation of the ferry sinking. “There is nothing legally wrong with that. But it does give us important data on how well qualified” was the third mate, Park Han-gyeol. |
| The ship’s captain, Lee Jun-seok, 69, was in his room on Wednesday and had left the third mate in charge of the ship when the episode began 11 miles from the island of Jindo. | |
| Mr. Lee as well as Ms. Park were taken to jail with their hands cuffed after a judge approved their arrest warrants. The crew members also faced numerous charges. | |
| “I bow before the people and grieved families and apologize,” Mr. Lee told reporters as he was led to jail. He added that he “partly” accepted the charges against him. | |
| Not long after the arrests, officials said that divers had discovered three bodies inside the submerged vessel. | |
| As hope dwindled that any of the 236 missing students would be found alive, their high school was stunned Friday by more tragic news: the death of its vice principal in what was suspected to be a suicide. | |
| The vice principal, Kang Min-kyu, 52, of Danwon High School, who survived the ferry accident, was found hanging from a tree near a gymnasium where families of the missing had gathered. The police suspected Mr. Kang had hanged himself. | |
| “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.” | |
| On Friday, investigators said that 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. | |
| “He temporarily left the steering command to his third shipmate,” said Park Jae-uk, a senior investigator. | |
| 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 Sewol. |