Plan B Forum

South Korea ferry disaster: captain and crew accused of abandoning passengers

Survivors and families of 287 people thought to be trapped inside sunken vessel voice anger at crew's response to accident

The parents of hundreds of children missing after Wednesday's ferry accident off the coast of South Korea have accused the captain of the vessel of abandoning passengers after it emerged that he and six other crew members were among the first to leave the ship after it started to sink.

The captain, Lee Joon-seok, who is reportedly in his 60s, escaped from the 6,835-ton Sewol just 40 minutes after the vessel apparently ran aground and started to list severely.

Survivors and the families of 287 people, most of them teenagers, who are thought to be trapped inside the sunken vessel directed their anger towards Lee, according to South Korean media reports, as rescue efforts continued in the dim hope that some of the missing passengers might still be alive. Navy divers tried to enter the capsized ship more than 10 times on Thursday, but were hampered by strong currents and poor visibility.

Local officials said 287 people remained unaccounted for more than a day after the vessel, with 475 on board, quickly sank in what may be South Korea's worst ferry disaster for two decades. Twenty people, including five high school pupils and two teachers, are known to have died, while 179 have been confirmed safe, including most of the 30 crew members, South Korean media said.

Lee, his face hidden by a grey hoodie, told reporters at the coastguard offices that he felt "really sorry for the passengers, victims and their families and am deeply ashamed. I don't know what to say." He had earlier been criticised after he was seen drying wet banknotes on his bed while being interviewed by journalists.

The captain of a South Korean ferry that sank off the southwest coast of South Korea this week with hundreds of high school students aboard was arrested early Saturday along with two crewmembers, the Yonhap news agency reports.

The captain, 68-year-old Lee Joon-seok, was jailed on five counts of charges including negligence of duty and violation of maritime law, Yonhap reports.

The exact charges filed against the two crew members, who were allegedly operating the ship alone at the time of the accident, were not immediately available.

Prosecutors, in seeking an arrest warrant on Friday, alleged that Lee had left the vessel in charge of two crew members who failed to reduce its speed in a cluster of islands and may have made too sharp a turn that caused it to list.

The ferry, carrying 475 passengers, most of them high school students, went down off the southwest coast of South Korea on Wednesday. Officials say 28 people died and 268 are still missing.