South Korean divers searched for survivors a day after a ferry sank, killing at least nine people and leaving 287 missing. Authorities are investigating the captain of the ship amid reports the ferry may have deviated from a government-advised route.
Strong currents and low visibility are making operations difficult as more than 500 divers try to search the vessel, Kang Byung Kyu, minister of Security and Public Administration, said at a televised briefing today. The coast guard has been investigating 10 crew officials on the cause of the incident, according to a Mokpo Coast Guard Station official, who gave his name only as Kim. The ferry broke away from the route advised by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Yonhap News reported, citing the coast guard.
The accident may be the worst in over two decades in South Korea after a passenger ship sank in 1993, killing 292. At least nine people, including three students, died in yesterday’s accident, which occurred off the southwest corner of the Korean peninsula. Of the 475 passengers and crew, 179 people have been rescued. Chances of finding more survivors are diminishing due to the cold sea temperature.
“I felt something seriously went wrong when I noticed the ship was listing as sharply as 45 degrees at around 9 a.m,” Yang In Seok, a 48-year-old who was transporting cargo to Jeju together with three fellow delivery men, said, his neck wrapped in a cast. “I bolted from the third floor of the stern, bumping against the wall, and then made it up to the deck to find a helicopter pulling us up.”
Many passengers may have been unable to escape as the ship turned over and sank too fast, Ko Myung Suk, director general of Equipment & Technology Bureau at Korea Coast Guard, told reporters in Seoul. Rescuers are hopeful some passengers may still be alive if there’s enough air in the ship, he said.
Students
The passengers included 325 students and 14 teachers from Danwon High School on an excursion to Jeju island, according to the school’s website.
Hundreds of parents whose children remain unaccounted for are packed into a gymnasium on Jindo island, near the site of the sinking, waiting for news. Some scuffled and threw water at South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong Won, who was surrounded by aides when he arrived last night. Soldiers and doctors were standing by, while one woman was carried out on a stretcher after falling unconscious.
A total of 555 divers have been conducting an underwater search, which continued overnight with the help of flares fired from helicopters and rescue vessels’ flashlights. A U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship, the USS Bonhomme Richard, is standing by to offer assistance, U.S. Naval Forces Korea said in an e-mailed statement.
‘Every Effort’
“I feel terrible that this unfortunate accident has happened to students on a field trip, and other passengers,” South Korea’s President Park Geun Hye said in a meeting with senior emergency officials, according to a statement on the website of her office. “If there is any hint of survivors, make every effort and never give up until the end.”
Coast guard footage yesterday showed the 6,325-ton ferry submerged with only its bow visible 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Byeongpoong island. A 3,600-ton floating crane set out toward the area to try to raise the ferry, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (042660) said in an e-mailed statement, without saying how long it would take for the crane to arrive.
The government said it’s still investigating what caused the accident, with local media including YTN saying it sailed into rocks in foggy conditions. The ship left from the port of Incheon late on April 15 on a trip that generally takes almost 14 hours. It sank about 3 hours from Jeju.
Listing, Sinking
The coast guard received the accident alert from the ferry at 8:58 a.m. local time yesterday, the ministry said. The ship first listed, with rescuers lowered from helicopters rushing to pull survivors from one side of the ship. As the vessel began to sink, passengers were told to jump into the water, survivors said, and within three hours the ferry had sunk with just a bit of the bow remaining above water.
“The ship quickly tilted to 90 degrees,” the mother of An Min Soo, a student who survived the accident by jumping into the sea with a teacher and friends, said by phone. “He was in the water for five minutes and was transported to a lifeboat. He said there were announcements but he couldn’t hear them because the scene was too chaotic with noise.”
Official Confusion
Confusion surrounded official statements about the incident. The government at one point said 368 were rescued, while the ship’s owner and operator Chonghaejin Marine Co. said 90 passengers were unaccounted for. Many of the mistakes were caused by double-counting, vice security minister Lee Gyeong Og said at a televised press briefing. The total number of people on the ferry was also revised repeatedly.
The nine confirmed casualties included high school student Jeong Cha Woong, according to the security ministry. Another was Park Ji Young, a female employee of the boat operator, South Korea’s disaster control agency said. Two other students also died, the security ministry said. At least three foreigners are also missing.
The vessel, named “Sewol,” or “time and tide” in Korean, can carry as many as 921 passengers and 130 vehicles traveling between Incheon and Jeju Island. Chonghaejin Marine operates two vessels on the Incheon-Jeju route as well as two other services in the southern coastal area, according to the company’s website.
The Sewol is insured by Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance Co. for up to 7.8 billion won ($7.5 million) and by Korea Shipping Association for up to 3.6 billion won, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission and Financial Supervisory Service said in an e-mailed joint statement. Korea Shipping Association and Meritz Fire are reinsured by Korean Reinsurance Co. and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., according to the statement.
Second Accident
It’s the second accident in less than a month involving a Chonghaejin ferry, after its “Democracy No. 5” collided with a fishing boat near Incheon late last month, with no casualties, according to a company official who asked not to be named, citing company policy.
Any survivors have faced a night in water that is about 13.2 degrees Celsius (56 degrees Fahrenheit) in the area, according to South Korea’s National Fisheries Research & Development Institute. That would probably lead to exhaustion or unconsciousness in about one to two hours, and has an expected survival time of up to six hours, according to the U.S. Search and Rescue Task Force.
Yesterday’s accident may be the worst since the ‘Seohae’ ferry sank in 1993, killing 292, according to the Korea Maritime University. The ‘Namyoung’ ferry sank in 1970, killing 323 people, according to the General Insurance Association of Korea.
South Korea has been investing in new cruise terminals in Incheon and other coastal cities to attract more tourists from China and Japan. That has prompted companies such as Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL), the world’s second-largest cruise line, to expand into Asia as economic growth is making it more affordable for people to travel by ships.
Routes to Jeju, an island also known as ‘South Korea’s Hawaii,’ are especially popular. A total of 2.3 million foreign tourists visited Jeju last year, with Chinese visitors accounting for 78 percent, according to data on the Jeju government’s website. Domestic visitors to Jeju totaled 8.5 million last year, up 6.3 percent from 2012.
To contact the reporters on this story: Sam Kim in Seoul at skim609@bloomberg.net; Heesu Lee in Seoul at hlee425@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stuart Biggs at sbiggs3@bloomberg.net
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