South Korea ferry: President condemns crew actions Skip to main content

South Korea ferry: President condemns crew actions

South Korea ferry: President condemns crew actions

Jonathan Head: "[President Park] has to speak out, she has to show solidarity with the families"

South Korea ferry

South Korean President Park Geun-hye has condemned the conduct of some of the crew of the ferry that sank last week, calling it "akin to murder". 

Ms Park said that those to blame would have to take "criminal and civil" responsibility for their actions.

Divers are continuing to recover bodies from the ferry, as they gain access to more of the submerged hull.

The death toll now stands at 64, with 238 people still missing, most of them students from a school near Seoul.

Bodies are being brought two or three at a time back to Jindo, a southern island close to where the ferry sank.

Police, meanwhile, have been given access to hundreds of messages sent by passengers and crew so they can construct a detailed chronology of the ferry's last hour.

Transcript released
 
Ms Park, whose government has faced criticism over its initial response to the disaster, told aides that the actions of the captain and some of the crew "were utterly incomprehensible, unacceptable and tantamount to murder", the presidential office said.
Rescue workers carry the bodies of passengers who were on the capsized Sewol passenger ship, which sank in the sea off Jindo, at a port where family members of missing passengers have gathered, in Jindo on 21 April 2014 Teams have been bringing bodies recovered from the sunken ferry ashore to Jindo island
Graphic showing location of sunken ferry and timeline of events
South Korean President Park Geun-hye at the site, 17 Apr President Park Geun-hye visited the site on Thursday
The body of a passenger aboard the Sewol ferry which sank off South Korea's coast, is carried by rescue workers upon its arrival at a port in Jindo, South Korea on 21 April 2014 Bereaved relatives are desperate to have the bodies of their loved ones returned
The South Korean coast guard searches for missing passengers at the site of the sunken ferry off the coast of Jindo Island on 20 April 2014 in Jindo-gun, South Korea It is not yet clear when the vessel could be raised, but specialist equipment has been brought in
Relatives of missing passengers aboard the sunken ferry Sewol weep in front of policemen as they try to march toward the presidential house to protest the government's rescue operation in Jindo, South Korea, on 20 April 2014 Over the weekend relatives confronted police as they took part in a protest march
A total of 174 passengers were rescued from the Sewol, which capsized as it sailed from Incheon in the north-west to the southern island of Jeju.

But there were 476 people on board - including 339 children and teachers on a school trip. Many were trapped inside the ship as it listed to one side and then sank.

Investigations are focusing on whether the vessel took too sharp a turn - perhaps destabilising the vessel - before it started listing and whether an earlier evacuation order could have saved lives.

Sewol communications excerpt

Controller: "Please go out and let the passengers wear life jackets and put on more clothing."

Crew member: "If this ferry evacuates passengers, will you be able to rescue them?''

Controller: "At least make them wear life rings and make them escape.''

Crew member: "If this ferry evacuates passengers, will they be rescued right away?''

Controller: "Don't let them go bare. At least make them wear life rings and make them escape... We don't know the situation very well. The captain should make the final decision and decide whether you're going to evacuate passengers or not."

Crew member: "I'm not talking about that. I asked, if they evacuate now, can they be rescued right away?''

Details of the panic and indecision on the bridge emerged on Sunday, when the coastguard released a transcript of the last communications between the crew and controllers.

In the transcript, a crew member repeatedly asks if vessels are on hand to rescue passengers if evacuation is ordered.

The captain, Lee Joon-seok, has said he delayed the move for fear people would drift away.
Mr Lee, 69, was not on the bridge when the ferry began listing. It was steered by a third mate who had never navigated the waters where the accident occurred, prosecutors said on Saturday.

The captain and two other crew members have been charged with negligence of duty and violation of maritime law.

Four more crew members were reported to have been detained on Monday over allegations they failed to protect passengers.

It has since emerged that Mr Lee appeared in a promotional video for the journey four years ago describing the ferry journey as safe as long as the passengers followed the crew's instructions.

Over the weekend, there were angry confrontations between relatives of those on board and police, after a group began a protest march.

The relatives say they want more information both about what happened and about how soon the remains of their loved ones can be recovered.
bbc graphic

--BBC

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