* Right now :
Deaths: 87*, Rescued: 174, Missing: 215*
Source : confirmed by Arirang TV on live now, & MBC NEWS
* Will be Updated.
Live Updates :
2303KST: Divers searched deck 3 and 4 in the afternoon. A total of 23 bodies discovered, including 3 foreigners(2 chinese and 1 russian). Source
- Arirang TV :
Families losing hope, some now just want to preserve their sons and daughters' bodies. They don't believe at all the government. There was also a fight among the families. Representative of the families asked the authorities to finish the researches by Thursday.
Divers managed to go to the cafeteria where most of the passengers are believed to be. Searching mostly the 3rd and 4th floor.
- Saviors dive 5 or 6 times per hour. Src, The Kyunghyang Shinmun
1400KST: At 1140KST, one of the engineers (59 year old, surname Son) that was on Sewol attempted suicide. Mr. Son had undergone interrogations late into the evening and additional interrogations were planned for today. Mr. Son left the motel room where he and other co-workers were staying, locked himself in a separate room, and attempted to hang himself. His co-workers and the motel staff called 119 (emergency hotline) and the emergency responders managed to save him. Thankfully, he has no life-threatening injuries.
1300KST: Four additional crew members have been detained for failing to protect passengers.
1245KST: Diving efforts are currently twenty divers in teams of two for each of the ten guidelines, rotating every 15min. A special crew of three from the Netherlands is going to join the team soon. The coast guard has requested help from specialist teams in China and Japan as well. China has pledged two cranes and barges, and Japan is offering expert advice currently.
1230KST: With a security line installed this morning, the rescue divers managed to enter the dining hall of the boat within an hour.
Expert: Fact that passengers texted parents during crisis shows crew failed 'golden opportunity' to properly evacuate/inform
— Joseph Kim (@josungkim) April 21, 2014
Src : Independent Korean American reporter Joseph Kim on TWT.
- 2 underwater drones are currently used, starting from this morning. Src, Chosun
0830KST: It is reported that Hong Ga Hye turned herself in to the police. Src
119 hrs past #Sewol disaster : 64 confirmed dead, 238 still missing. 174 rescued(Yonhapnews TV shot) pic.twitter.com/uRzvWBhnlT
— Jaehwan Cho 조재환 (@hohocho) April 20, 2014
0645KST : Three of the bodies that were found this morning are probably students. Found on the 4th floor. Currently : 200+ ships, 30+ aircrafts, 500+ divers. Src , YTN
7am scene of #Sewol Rescue area. Tidal current here goes slow. Fine weather for the effort #PrayForSouthKorea pic.twitter.com/Y3ZWblnJQU
— Jaehwan Cho 조재환 (@hohocho) April 20, 2014
0424KST: 2 US ROVs (remotely-operated vehicles) had arrived in Jindo County on the 20th sometime in the afternoon. 3 experts from Dutch company SMT will arrive in the afternoon of the 21st. It is expected for the Coast Guard to request 2 barges and 2 cranes from China. The Coast Guard also requested for the Japanese manufacturers of Sewol to assist
0311KST: Turns out that the electricity and the engine shut off immediately after the sharp turn + tilting, making it impossible to alleviate the tilting by any means.
Src : http://bit.ly/1mswRul , Reporter Jae Hwan Cho @ TWT, Aujourd'hui la Corée @ TWT, Chosun , Independent Korean American reporter Joseph Kim on TWT, The Kyunghyang Shinmun
VIDEO LIVE : by Arirang TV, still updating (every 30 minutes from now on I think so?).
Source : Arirang TV @ YT
_________________________________
* What happened during the whole Sewol Sunken Ferry Incident (Summary articles) :
Divers pull bodies from sunken ferry; toll tops 50
MOKPO, South Korea (AP) - The confirmed death toll from South Korea's ferry disaster rose past 50 on Sunday as divers finally found a way inside the sunken vessel, quickly discovering more than a dozen bodies in what almost certainly is just the beginning of a massive and grim recovery effort.
About 250 people are still missing from the ship, the vast majority of them high school students who had been on a holiday trip. Anguished families, waiting on a nearby island and fearful they might be left without even their loved ones' bodies, have vented their fury, blocking the prime minister's car during a visit and attempting a long protest march to the presidential Blue House.
The ferry Sewol sank Wednesday off South Korea's southern coast, but it took days for divers to get in because of strong currents and bad visibility due to foul weather. Beginning late Saturday, when divers broke a window, and continuing into Sunday, multiple teams of divers have found various routes into the ferry, discovering bodies in different spots, coast guard official Koh Myung-seok said at a briefing. Thirteen bodies have been found in the ship, while six other bodies were found floating outside Sunday, bringing the official death toll to 52, the coast guard said.
Divers, who once pumped air into the ship in the slim hope that survivors were inside, have yet to find anyone alive there.
A 21-year-old South Korean sailor, surnamed Cho, also died from injuries he sustained Wednesday while working on a warship going to help rescue passengers in the ferry, said Cmdr. Yim Myung-soo of the South Korean navy.
The penetration by divers into the ferry follows the arrest of the captain Saturday on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need. Two crew members also were taken into custody, including a rookie third mate who a prosecutor said was steering in challenging waters unfamiliar to her when the accident occurred.
The Sewol sank during a trip from port of Incheon to the southern holiday island of Jeju with 476 people on board, including 323 students from Danwon High School in Ansan. The 16- and 17-year-old students make up only 75 of the 174 survivors, and about 225 of the missing. At least 23 of those confirmed dead are students, according to coast guard spokesman Kim Jae-in.
On Jindo island near the submerged ferry, about 200 police in neon jackets blocked about 100 relatives of missing passengers who'd been walking on a main road in an effort, they said, to travel to the presidential Blue House in Seoul to voice their complaints to the president. The relatives have been staying at gymnasium on the island, waiting for word of their loved ones.
"The government is the killer," they shouted as they pushed against a police barricade.
"We want an answer from the person in charge about why orders are not going through and nothing is being done," said Lee Woon-geun, father of missing passenger Lee Jung-in, 17. "They are clearly lying and kicking the responsibility to others."
Earlier Sunday morning, relatives of the missing blocked the car of Prime Minister Chung Hong-won and demanded a meeting with President Park Geun-hye, as Chung made a visit to Jindo. Chung later returned to the gymnasium, but met only with a number of representatives of the family members in a side office.
Relatives are desperate to retrieve bodies before they decompose beyond recognition, Lee said.
"After four or five days the body starts to decay. When it's decayed, if you try to hold a hand it might fall off," he said. "I miss my son. I'm really afraid I might not get to find his body."
The cause of the sinking remains under investigation, but prosecutors say the ship made a sharp turn just before it began to list. The captain, Lee Joon-seok, initially told passengers to stay in their rooms and took at least half an hour to issue an evacuation order. By that time, the ship was listing at too steep an angle for many people to escape the tight hallways and stairs inside.
Lee faces five charges, including negligence of duty and violation of maritime law, and the two arrested crew members each face three related charges.
Senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin said Lee violated the law because he was not on the bridge helping his crew when the ferry passed through the tough-to-navigate area where it sank. He also said Lee abandoned people in need of help and rescue; video shows Lee among the first people to reach the shore by rescue boat.
Yang said the two crew members arrested failed to reduce speed near the islands and failed to carry out necessary measures to save lives. Prosecutors will have 10 days to decide whether to indict the captain and crew, but can request a 10-day extension from the court.
Three vessels with cranes arrived at the accident site to prepare to salvage the ferry, but they will not hoist the ship before getting approval from family members of those still believed inside because the lifting could endanger any survivors, said a coast guard officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.
Klug reported from Seoul. Associated Press writers Youkyung Lee and Jung-yoon Choi in Seoul and Gillian Wong in Jindo, South Korea, contributed to this report.
Source : AP News
_________________________________
* What is not being reported by the media :
Public Appeal of the parents' children (OP : This is a direct message from the parents translated by Iwalkandtalk on tumblr)
"The acts of the government angers us so much and here we choose to appeal to the people of our nation with tears.
After hearing the news that the accident occurred on April 16th 9:00 a.m., we were watching the news trying to figure out the situation. After hearing at about noon that everyone had been rescued, we arrived here and the actual situation was nonsensical beyond belief.
There were only 82 survivors – 74 students, 3 teachers, and 5 civilians. And by the time they arrived to the situation room in the gym, 5:30 p.m., there were no officials that took any responsibility for explaining the situation to us. Even the situation room itself seriously lacked in terms of resources.
What we wished to know was the current situation, but no one took responsibility to tell us. No one was in charge. Our children were likely crying for help in the cold water during all this.
We arranged a parents’ planning committee and divided us into two groups (ones to be at the gym and ones to be at the Peang-mok port) at about 7:00 p.m., wishing to go to the site of the disaster. We had a civilian diver with us and volunteered for the search, but they did not allow us to set out to the sea, and prevented us from going even near it.
This made us furious and we protested and yelled to send us someone in charge, but no one answered us.
Even after 10:00 p.m., there was no rescue mission in process while our children were perishing at sea. Even after the continuous requests for an operating mission and telling us around April 17th 1:00 a.m. that they would resume the mission, they refused to do so, only telling us that the underwater currents were strong enough to put lives at risk.
The army and the police follow orders and nothing else. The parents and the civilian diver wailed but our demands were not met.
We went to the cite on the 17th and there were not even 200 people working on the rescue mission. There were only two helicopters, two warships, two guard vessels, six special forces ships and eight civilian volunteers.
But on 9:00 a.m., the government falsely announced that there were 555 people, 121 helicopters and 69 ships on the mission.
Fellow citizens, this genuinely is the truth of Republic of Korea. Please help us save our children."
Source : Hani
Credit Translation : iwalkandtalk @ tumblr
_________________________________
* Official Reports : Various news articles
South Korea ferry disaster: Relatives divided over whether to raise ferry
Rescue workers operate near floats where the capsized passenger ship "Sewol" sank, during the rescue operation as a giant offshore crane, which will take part in the rescue operation, is background the sea off Jindo on April 19, 2014. Four days after South Korea's shattering ferry disaster, grieving relatives were split on Sunday, April 20, 2014, over whether to approve an end to the search for survivors and let cranes raise the vessel to the surface. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
JINDO, South Korea (AFP) - Four days after South Korea's shattering ferry disaster, grieving relatives were split on Sunday over whether to approve an end to the search for survivors and let cranes raise the vessel to the surface.
There are five giant floating cranes at the scene, but President Park Geun Hye gave her personal assurance to the families of the hundreds still missing that salvage operations would only begin after all hope of finding survivors was extinguished.
Nearly 60 people have been confirmed dead, but more than 240 are still unaccounted for - most of them children on an organised high school holiday.
A psychological turning point came when divers began retrieving bodies from inside the ferry on Sunday.
Many relatives had hoped passengers may have survived in trapped air pockets, and feared that raising the ship would have fatal consequences.
While some remain convinced their loved ones may be alive, others have begun to accept the probability there will be no survivors, especially given the bodies found by the dive teams.
"I think the time may have come to use the large cranes," said the father of one student, who gave his surname as Lee.
"It's the practical option now, to prevent bodies being swept away by the currents and lost for good, or becoming too decomposed," Mr Lee said.
Mr Lee's son was one of 352 students from Danwon High School who were on the ship when it capsized.
Hundreds of distraught parents have been camping out in a gymnasium on the southern island of Jindo, not far from the disaster site.
"It has been four days. We need to do something," said another father who took to the stage of the gym during a meeting with coastguard officials at the weekend.
FEAR OF BODIES BEING DISFIGURED
"If there is no hope, then we should be able to hug our children while there's still flesh on them and we can recognise their faces," he told the other relatives.
Many family members have already taken the step of providing DNA samples to ease the future identification of bodies.
But officials remain extremely wary of formally calling off the rescue part of the operation, for fear of further upsetting relatives already incensed by what they saw as the slow and inefficient response to the ferry sinking.
When some relatives spoke during the meeting with the coastguard about bringing in the cranes, others shouted them down.
"It's outrageous! What if even a single person remains alive in the ship?" Chung Hye Sook, the mother of one missing student told AFP, her face red with anger.
"Divers must go in and bring them out," Ms Chung said.
On Sunday morning almost 200 relatives set off on what they said was a protest march from Jindo to the presidential Blue House in Seoul - some 420 kilometres to the north.
They were later turned back by police after some minor scuffles.
Jang Chul Soon, 37, whose mother was among the missing, acknowledged the desire to recover the bodies before they became too disfigured.
"But not if lifting the ferry would deprive any survivor of their last chance of making it," he argued.
"We must not talk about the use of cranes."
Source : straitstime
*Sunday :
South Korea ferry disaster: Families and police clash at protest
Click For Video (OP: Idk how to put it in the post)
Scuffles have broken out on Jindo island between police and families of the missing passengers from the sunken South Korean ferry.
Nearly 200 relatives set off on Sunday on what they said was a protest march from Jindo to the presidential Blue House in Seoul, 260 miles (420km) to the north.
But a force of several hundred police offers blocked a bridge from the island to the mainland, forcing them to turn back.
Martin Patience reports.
Src : BBC news
Media's Role in Sewol Tragedy
We are still holding onto a sliver of hope that, miraculously, survivors will be found even though more than 100 hours have passed since the Sewol capsized in the waters off Jindo Island Wednesday morning.
But these hopes are being brutally dashed not only by the excruciatingly slow rescue process, but by the animals of our society who see this as a money-making opportunity ― hence the smishing and disrespectful postings regarding the Sewol passengers.
It is up to the government, with the aid of the media, to hunt down these criminals and issue the necessary penalties.
Another critical line of duty the press has been enlisted with is to ensure its coverage does not in any way cause unnecessary grief or distress for the victims.
While the media appeared to be walking on eggshells to avoid aggravating the victims’ families at Paengmok Port, one too many of the reports turned out to be false or unconfirmed.
The total number of people aboard the ship and those who were rescued, for instance, changed several times, and each time, the media blamed the government for inaccuracies.
But we are well aware we can’t claim immunity because we should have refrained from releasing anything at all had discrepancies been suspected ― no matter how heated the competition was getting to cover the incident.
The false testimony from a civilian diver whose controversial remarks ― about why the government dragged its feet on rescue plans ― was another good example of exactly why the media should be more careful.
Further, the Defense Ministry is seeking an investigation against those claiming that the ferry collided with a submarine, and those who accused North Korea of having masterminded the sinking.
Nobody doubts that the government and the top military brass were far from efficient, and that those responsible must pay the consequences. However, false information will only makes things worse.
Even regarding the “villains” ― namely the Sewol captain, his sidekicks and the rest of the crew who decided their own lives outweighed the passengers’ ― the reports must strain for accuracy.
Conscious of the criticism and chaos caused by the media, the Journalists Association of Korea on Sunday released a set of guidelines for journalists to follow.
They ask the press to refrain from reporting unauthorized facts, to know better than to bother the waiting families and to exercise the utmost courtesy and prudence when communicating with them.
If unverified information happens to slip, the members of the press and their outlets must promptly acknowledge and address the error.
Last but not least, it is up to us to offer a message of hope and sympathy to the victims, the association said.
What this means is that the public wants some assurance.
Assurance that even in the midst of such rage and despair, there is still reason for us to hope and dream of a better tomorrow.
Assurance that in the end, those ― including the top brass who let their sense of duty be overwhelmed by bureaucracy and the fear of failure ― who played a part in extinguishing the lives of so many innocent people will eventually pay the price.
It has been a long week, but let’s not give up our last bit of hope just yet.
After all, miracles do happen.
By Kim Ji-hyun, Business Editor
(jemmie@heraldcorp.com)
Source : The Korea Herald
Video : Korean Authorities admit private divers are more capable (by Arirang TV)
Source and credit : Arirang News on YT
Ferry captain, government under fire
President Park Geun-hye visited the site of the sunken ferry Sewol, Thursday, to console grieving families of the missing and encourage rescue workers, but people are angry with what they've been seeing and hearing. (Yonhap)
The captain of the ill-fated Sewol ferry is the focus of public outrage after it became known that he and six other crewmembers were among the first to be rescued when the vessel was sinking.
Captain Lee Joon-seok, along with a chief engineer surnamed Sohn and other crews, was escaped from the 6,835-ton ferry Sewol at around 9:30 a.m. about 40 minutes after the ferry reportedly struck a submerged rock.
A number of survivors told reporters that they witnessed the captain waiting on the deck to be saved. They also said that Lee was among the first to jump down into a Coast Guard vessel.
“I couldn’t see any crew when the ship was going down. Adult passengers around me told me to wear life jackets,” one student survivor told SBS.
The sinking of the ferry, with mostly high school students on board, left over 280 people missing while nine are confirmed dead as of Thursday afternoon.
About 30 crew members on board were mostly rescued including the captain, except for Park Ji-young in her early 20s who was found dead Wednesday. She was in charge of on board announcements.
The anger of the families was further fueled following reports that when Lee was asked by journalists about the cause of the sinking in hospital, he was drying wet banknotes on his bed.
Lee is suspected of being in violation of the Seamen’s Law that stipulates that a captain and senior officers should not leave a ship before all passengers are safely off the vessel.
The Coast Guard is also considering malfunctioning lifeboats as a major cause of increased casualties. One photo of the sinking ship incident shows just one boat deployed, while two others were inoperable after being detached from the ship. Another 12 boats remained attached to the port side.
*Government causes confusion
The authorities also confused and angered the parents of missing students by announcing contradictory numbers of the dead and missing several times.
The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters at first announced that a total of 368 people were rescued, but it overturned the statement within an hour, saying 164 were rescued. This naturally increased the number of missing persons by almost 200.
The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education made an even greater mistake, announcing that the students of Danwon High School had, at one point, all been rescued.
But the office later admitted that this had been was false information, causing anger from parents who had, until the announcement, remained relatively relaxed.
A slight change in the number of casualties is normal after a major incident occurs, but a difference of almost 200 people is difficult to comprehend.
*Politicians flock to Jindo
Many politicians are rushing to visit Jindo County of South Jeolla Province, an island near the location where the ferry capsized, to conduct what they say is a “spot inspection.”
Among them are Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party, and Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo who co-chairs the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD).
Many of those running seats in the June 4 local elections are involved in activities.
But it remains questionable what politicians can do in such a desperate situation aside from saying, “Do your best to save people.”
In particular, Rep. Lee Yoon-seok of the NPAD was slammed for receiving preferential treatment after he was allowed to go aboard a Coast Guard ship, which parents of the missing students were refused access to, to view the scene of the accident.
Families vented their anger by pouring water onto Prime Minister Chung Hong-won when he visited a gym in Jindo where family members were desperately waiting for any news of missing relatives.
By Jun Ji-hye
Source : The Korea Times
Novice’s turn caused ferry to capsize, says probe
Two crew, captain are charged with crimes, Apr 21,2014
A sharp turn made by an inexperienced sailor was the fundamental cause of the deadly capsizing of the Sewol ferry, investigators said.
According to a joint investigation team by police and prosecutors, the third mate, who was operating the 6,825-ton ferry on behalf of the captain on Wednesday morning, said that the steering gear went out of her control after she made a sudden turn. The Sewol was traveling at a high speed at the time.
“When the ferry was approaching waters near Jindo, I should have slowed the vessel first before making a right turn,” the 25-year-old mate, who is surnamed Park, said during questioning Friday, according to investigators.
“But I made the turn while the ship was running at almost its highest speed,” Park was quoted as saying by the investigators.
The vessel was operating at 19 knots, or 35 kilometers (21.7 miles), per hour, Park said. The maximum speed of the ferry was 21 knots, or 39 kilometers, per hour.
“After that, the steering gear swiftly turned by itself,” she said, “and the ship lost its balance and went out of control.”
The investigation team told reporters that the sharp turn by the mate, who has only one year of experience operating a large vessel, appeared to lead to the ferry capsizing.
“Making a sharp turn of a 6,800-ton vessel at the speed of 19 knots is similar to making a right turn in a car running at the speed of 100 kilometers per hour,” Kim Seong-jin, a veteran captain with 10 years of experience in large vessels, said.
Park was accompanied by an assistant sailor surnamed Cho, 55, police said. Captain Lee Jun-seok, 69, was not on the bridge.
“I should have supervised the route as the area was known to be dangerous,” Lee allegedly said during questioning.
According to the investigators, the ferry was traveling to the southeast when Park made the first 90-degree turn to the southwest at 8:48 a.m. Following the turn, the ferry slowed down to a speed of only 6 kilometers per hour and traveled for four minutes.
Then, for unknown reasons, the ferry made a second turn toward the north at 8:52 a.m. and traveled for 1.6 kilometers. At 10:08 a.m., the vessel stopped and started to capsize. The key to the sinking is what happened at 8:52 a.m., officials say, when the second turn was made.
Some maritime specialists assume the ferry was out of control after the first turn, as its speed dropped so fast. The slowed speed meant its engine was not working.
Kim Gil-su, a maritime transport studies professor at the Korea Maritime and Ocean University, said the ferry’s propeller appeared to be broken after the first turn was being made.
“If the ship’s [right] propeller was broken, the propulsion power of the vessel was only on its left side, so the whole body could be tilted to the right,” he said. “After the first turn, the bridge attempted to make a turn to the left, but the broken propeller could have turned the ship once again to the right.”
“She could have stabilized the vessel by making a right turn once again,” Lee Myeong-gyu, a maritime studies professor at Gyeongsang National University, said.
Hitting an underwater rock was ruled out by specialists because there was no damage to the ferry’s underside.
Trying to avoid an obstacle was also ruled out.
Unsecured cargo could also have moved, tilted the ship to the left, another analysts said.
“If cargo slid to a certain side, a ferry can lose its balance,” professor Lee added.
The Gwangju District Court issued arrest warrants for the captain, third mate Park and the sailor who assisted her as suspects in an accidental homicide.
The captain was also charged with fleeing the ferry and abandoning passengers, a violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Special Crimes, and negligence resulting in the death of passengers, a violation of the Criminal Act.
If the captain is ruled guilty of all of those three charges, he could receive a life sentence.
BY KIM HEE-JIN, choi sun-wook [heejin@joongang.co.kr]
Source : Korea JoongAng Daily
[Ferry Disaster] Woman turns herself in after false ‘kill time’ claims
A South Korean woman who made a false claim on a television interview about the delayed rescue operation of the capsized ferry Sewol turned herself in late Sunday, police said.
The South Jeolla Provincial Police Agency on Saturday issued a warrant to detain the 26-year-old woman, surnamed Hong, who claimed that the Coast Guard told civilian divers to “kill time” and that some divers had confirmed survivors inside the sunken ship.
Police said Hong was immediately detained after voluntarily appearing at the police station. Hong reportedly admitted making the remarks based on unverified rumors.
According to local wire Yonhap, Hong was first reached on Thursday through a social network service by a writer from the broadcaster, when she was heading down to Jindo Island, South Jeolla Province.
It is unclear which online service was used by the network to communicate with Hong. But after the accident occurred, Hong wrote posts on her Twitter account, recruiting civilian divers with a diving license.
In the interview, she claimed that the government stopped the divers from entering the waters, and that some civilian divers communicated with survivors inside the vessel.
“Other divers told me that the Coast Guard told them to ‘just kill time.’ Other officials told the families of the missing people that there are no hopes or miracles,” she said, when asked about the situation by an anchor.
Her remarks touched off a firestorm of public criticism, adding to public mistrust against the government and media reports on the state-led rescue efforts.
As already shown in an interview of a victim’s parent on another broadcaster JTBC, families of the victims’ anger has reached its peak over the government’s inconsistent reports on the number of missing passengers, deaths and the slow pace of the salvage operation.
But it was later found in the probe that Hong is not an authorized diver, Yonhap said.
Police said they would continue to question Hong and MBN officials for details, in part to determine who first asked for an interview.
Police also said they plan to request an arrest warrant for Hong on Tuesday morning on charges of libel.
Investigators have pledged to seriously punish those who spread false rumors related to the ferry disaster, including text messages that claimed to be from survivors inside the sunken ship.
By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)
Source : The Korea Herald
*Monday
South Korean President: Actions of sunken ferry crew 'akin to murder'
Jindo, South Korea (CNN) -- The actions of the captain and crew of the sunken ferry Sewol "are akin to murder," South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Monday.
Her comments come after a radio transcript released a day earlier suggested that passengers aboard the doomed South Korean ferry couldn't reach lifeboats to escape because the ship tilted so quickly that it left many of them unable to move.
"Please notify the coast guard. Our ship is in danger. The ship is rolling right now," a crew member on the ship first tells authorities in a dramatic conversation that took place while the Sewol ferry was sinking last week.
An unidentified crew member on the Sewol talked to two different Vessel Traffic Service centers as the ship sank Wednesday morning, the transcript revealed. Someone on the ship contacted the traffic service in Jeju -- the ferry's destination -- at 8:55 a.m. and communicated with it before the conversation switched to Jindo VTS, which was closer, about 11 minutes later.
"The ship rolled over a lot right now. Cannot move. Please come quickly," the crew member says a minute after initial contact.
Hear frantic audio from sinking ship Transcript reveals ferry tragedy details Why did the captain abandon ship? Could moving the ship hurt survivors?
At one point Jeju advises the crew to get people into life vests.
"It is hard for people to move," Sewol replies.
After the conversation switches to the traffic service in Jindo, the Sewol crew member says several times that the ship is leaning too much for passengers to move.
Sewol: "Our ship is listing and may capsize."
Jindo VTS: "How are the passengers doing? ..."
Sewol: "It's too listed that they are not able to move."
A short time later, another exchange takes place:
Jindo VTS: "Are the passengers able to escape?"
Sewol: "The ship listed too much, so it is impossible."
The transcript may help answer one of the major questions about the capsizing: Why didn't more passengers escape on lifeboats?
More at the source for summary. CNN's KJ Kwon reported from Jindo; Ralph Ellis and Greg Botelho wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Tim Schwarz, Holly Yan, Judy Kwon, Chelsea J. Carter, Stella Kim and Jung-eun Kim contributed to this report.
Source : CNN
Education ministry bans mass school trips during first semester
Investigations to find out the exact cause of the ferry's sinking as well as those who may be responsible are well underway.
For more, let's now go to our Laah Hyun-kyung at the news center.
Hyun-kyung, the joint investigation team got a hold of mobile messenger records of some 400 people that were aboard the Sewol-ho ferry?
Yes, those 400 include passengers and crew members.
Investigators are analyzing the mobile messages hoping that those will help determine the timeline of events and find out what exactly caused the ship to sink as well as what kinds of actions the crew members took.
Officials will also closely look into the messages that were exchanged among the crew.
In the meantime, on top of three crew members already arrested, including the captain, the joint investigation team arrested four additional crew members.
And with reports saying that the 20-year-old Sewol-ho ferry might have undergone renovation to overly extend its sailing-life for 7 years, some 20 people related to the renovation were summoned as well.
And the education ministry has prohibited schools from taking their students on mass school trips?
The Ministry of Education told the country's 17 metropolitan and provincial education offices NOT to take their students on any mass school trips, at least for the first semester of this year.
The decision was made at a meeting this Monday.
The ministry plans to develop and distribute safety manuals to help schools safely guide their students when travelling by airplanes or water transportation.
Education officials also decided to temporarily postpone any training activities for students, if safety measures are not properly in place.
And throughout the day, there was some confusion regarding whether a Jeju Coast Guard official called Danwon High School at 8:10 a.m. on the day of the accident.
Yes, earlier this Monday, the Gyeonggi-do Provincial Office of Education said a Danwon High School teacher received a call from the Jeju Coast Guard, asking for a cell phone number of a teacher in charge of the field trip that brought more than 300 Danwon High School students onboard the Sewol-ho ferry on the day of the accident.
But Jeju Coast Guard officials are now saying that it was a local policeman who called Danwon High School, and NOT one of their officials.
The caller, unaware of the fact that the ferry's arrival time had been delayed, went out to the port to meet the students and apparently called the school when he didn't see the ferry coming in.
The initial call time was said to be 8:10 a.m., about 40 minutes before the sunken ferry is recorded to have first contacted the marine traffic service at its destination, Jeju Island.
But now reports say it was about 8:20 a.m.
More investigation will be needed to officially confirm the facts and details.
Sean.
Reporter : jlaah@arirang.co.kr
Source : Arirang News
_____________________
* Pictures :
First pic : President Park.
Prayers in SK.
Oil escaping from the boat.
Raise the ferry or not? (taken Sunday)
PM's car is blocked by parents Sunday morning.
Levels on the boat (… I think so?).
A minister's assistant criticized after taking souvenir pics at the Sunken Ferry accident's place.
The captain (?), or a crew member.
Divers going to the boat.
Possible Air Pockets, posted April 18th.
Today (Monday) at 7 am.
News Host TV cries for victim on TV. Video.
Monday, parents are gathered in the auditorium near the accident.
Korea shares families' pain.
The parent's store of a missing student has been closed since the accident. Citizens write messages of support on it.
Volonteer supports victims' families by preparing kimchijiggae for lunch.
Monday's night in front of the sunken ferry.
Sources : The Korea Times, Yonhap @ Naver 2, ST Foreign Desk , Setéphane Lagarde @ TWT, MBC news @ TWT 2 3 4 5 6, Busan.com , Aujourd'hui la Corée @ TWT, The Korea Herald @ TWT, Jae Hee @ TWT, Chico Harlan @ TWT , #PrayforSouthKorea @ TWT.
Post will be *updated (UP). Feel free to update in the comments.