Seoul: The parents of hundreds of children missing after Wednesday’s ferry accident off the coast of South Korea have accused the ship’s captain of abandoning passengers after it emerged that he and six other crew members were among the first to leave the ship when it started to sink.
The captain, 60-year-old Lee Joon-seok, escaped from the 6,835-ton Sewol at about 9:30am on Wednesday, 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 voiced anger at the crew’s response to the accident, as rescue efforts continued in the dim hope that some of the missing passengers might still be alive.
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 maritime accident for two decades.
Nine people, including three pupils and a teacher, are known to have died. Survivors and distraught parents who have travelled to the southern island of Jindo to be near the scene of the accident turned their anger on the crew and government officials following reports that the ship’s passengers including 325 pupils from Dawon high school in the Seoul suburb of Ansan had been told to stay in their cabins rather than head to the emergency exits.
Evacuation order
“We must have waited 30 to 40 minutes after the crew told us to stay put,” said one rescued pupil. “Then everything tilted over and everyone started screaming and scrambling to get out,” he said.
Another passenger, Koo Bon-hee, said more people might have escaped had there been an immediate evacuation order.
“The rescue wasn’t done well. We were wearing life jackets. We had time,” said Koo, 36, who was on his way to Jeju island the ship’s intended destination on a business trip with a colleague.
“If people had jumped into the water they could have been rescued. But we were told not to go out.”
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.”
Kim Jae-in, a coastguard spokesman, said coastguard officials were questioning Lee, but denied earlier reports that the ferry had turned too quickly when it was supposed to make a slow turn. He also declined to say whether the ferry had strayed from its usual route.
