According to South Korean President Park Geun-hye, the actions of the sunken ferry’s captain and crew were similar to murder as Captain Lee Joon-seok will face multiple criminal charges after what happened to the Sewol, which sunk last week and had 87 people dead and 215 passengers missing.

Geun-hye said “the actions of the captain and some of the crew are absolutely unacceptable, unforgivable actions that are akin to murder.”

Majority of the passengers of the sunken vessel were students and teachers from a High School near Seoul who were going on a field trip. According to President Geun-hye, the entire South Korean public were filled with “rage and horror.”

Geun-hye’s statement came after more details from investigators showed the actions of the ferry’s captain and crew in delaying the escape of the passengers from the ship. A radio transcript showed how a crew member forwarded the decision to the captain to let the people escape the sinking ship. Some even said that “it was hard for people to move” when a Vessel Traffic Service center suggested abandoning the ferry.

According to Captain Lee Joon-seok, he thought that by abandoning the ferry, he risked the passengers dying from severe cold and being whisked away by fast currents, which were present in the area. He also said the rescue ship had not yet arrived and fishing vessels were not present at the moment. However, the first mate of a rescue ship said that if people had jumped earlier, more people would have escaped.

Source

Asia ferry / ship / sinking / South Korea / sunken /