Human Error Is Suspected in Korean Ferry Sinking
By CHOE SANG-HUN, SU-HYUN LEE and JIHA HAM
Evidence is growing that human error contributed to one of South Korea’s
worst disasters in recent decades, a ferry sinking from which 271
people are still missing.
Asia Pacific
Human Error Suspected as Hope Fades in Korean Ferry Sinking
By
Friday, the vessel was completely submerged. But rescue divers, after
two days of futile attempts, succeeded in swimming into the ship, though
it was unclear how far they were able to enter. Rescuers were using
high-pressure hoses to pump oxygen inside the ship, in the hope that
some of the 271 people still missing, most of them students, might have
survived in air pockets inside the overturned vessel.
South Korea Ferry Updates
Officials discussed the latest developments
in the search for passengers trapped inside the ferry that sank in the
waters off southwestern South Korea.
Credit Yonhap, via Associated Press
As
those efforts continued, evidence was growing that human error
contributed to the accident, one of South Korea’s worst disasters in
recent decades.
Kim
Su-hyun, a provincial coast guard chief, told reporters on Thursday
that the ship’s captain, Lee Jun-seok, stood accused of violating his
responsibilities by abandoning the ferry ahead of most of his
passengers. Coast guard officials who questioned Mr. Lee on Thursday
said they were reviewing possible criminal charges, while the police
said they were investigating whether he had escaped aboard one of the
few life rafts used.
On
Friday, Park Jae-uk, a senior investigator, said that Mr. Lee was not
on the bridge at the time of the accident and left control of the ship
to his third mate. “We are investigating where exactly he was at the
time,” Mr. Park added.
Mr.
Lee made a brief appearance before reporters on Thursday. “I can’t lift
my face before the passengers and family members of those missing,” he
said. But he provided little clarity on what led the 6,825-ton Sewol to
lean so far to its side before sinking, and why so many aboard had been
unable to escape.
For
some maritime experts, the captain’s decision to abandon the ship and
the crew’s emergency performance seemed to echo problems in the wreck of
the Costa Concordia, an Italian cruise ship that ran aground in 2012, killing 32 people.
James
T. Shirley Jr., an accident investigator in Newtown, Pa., said that in
the two and a half hours it took the ship to sink, the crew “certainly
had enough time to get most of the people off.”
“I
don’t understand why the crew would be instructing passengers to stay
inside the ship,” Mr. Shirley said. “I would think that if nothing else,
they would be getting them outside with life jackets on so if it sank,
they could at least get into the cold water with their jackets.”
Capt.
William H. Doherty, a maritime safety expert at Nexus Consulting Group
who commanded Navy and merchant ships, said there was “clearly a
breakdown in safety training” on the South Korean ferry, a failure he
said could be attributed to its officers and to Korean regulators.
“When
they issued a safety certification for the ship, they had to certify
that the crew was trained,” Captain Doherty said, noting the
communications officer’s admission that he had not taken part in an
evacuation drill. “You have to satisfy yourself that this crew is
trained in all emergency situations.”
For
the 325 students from Danwon High School who made up the bulk of the
passengers, it was a trip they had been eagerly awaiting, a last chance
for fun before a grueling year of studying for South Korea’s university
entrance exam. Soon after the ferry left the port of Incheon on Tuesday
night bound for the resort island of Jeju, they celebrated by launching
fireworks from the deck.
According
to survivors, the students were having a morning break after breakfast
on Wednesday, roaming through the floors and snapping pictures on the
deck, when the ship began tilting.
When
the situation became critical, survivors said, many students were still
on the third floor, where the cafeteria and game rooms were.
NORTH KOREA
“I
don’t remember that there was any safety instruction before we boarded
the ship,” said Kim Su-bin, 16, a Danwon student who survived by
climbing out of the sinking ship and jumping into the water. “Life
jackets were on the fourth floor where the sleeping cabins were, but
those who were on the third floor at the time had no life jackets.”
Investigators
said the Sewol appeared to have made a sharp turn to the left around
the time it began to tilt. It had been sailing slightly off its usual
course, they said. It was unclear why such a turn was tried in waters
known for their strong currents, or why the turn had caused the ship to
lean.
Inside
the ferry, chaos unfolded, survivors said, as the walls and floor
seemed to exchange positions. Bottles and dishes fell. The ship’s
twisting stairways became almost impossible to negotiate. Passengers
were tossed to one side. Trays and soup bowls overturned, said Song
Ji-cheol, a college student who worked part-time in the cafeteria.
“All of a sudden, we were submerged,” he said. “I tried to hold on to the tables, but they were moving around, too.”
At some point, survivors said, the lights went out.
“When
the ship began tilting, there was a thudding noise, and I thought it
was the noise made by students bumping into the walls,” Han Hee-min said
on Thursday in a hospital in Ansan, the city south of Seoul where
Danwon High School is. “I had a life jacket, so I floated. Some friends
grabbed my leg, and I don’t know what happened to them.”
South Korea Ferry Survivors on Ordeal
Passengers rescued from the ferry that sank
off South Korea described what happened on the boat and expressed worry
about others on board.
Credit Park Chul-Heung/Yonhap, via Associated Press
Grainy
video footage taken with a smartphone and sent to a relative showed
frightened passengers huddled in a corner as a voice on the ship’s
intercom urged people to “stay inside and wait because the cabins are
safer.” Gwon Ji-hyuck, 16, said he had heard that broadcast as well.
Han
Sang-hyuk, 16, blamed the crew’s instructions for the high number of
missing people, saying that those who stayed in their rooms or were
caught in small alleyways between corridors would not have been able to
escape.
The
communications officer, Mr. Kang, 32, said that he and another crew
member had been forced to make a quick decision. They thought that if
passengers fled in a panicked rush, it could make matters worse, he
said.
Shin
Seong-hee, a Danwon student, was among those who heeded the advice. In a
text message she sent to her father, she said the crew had told her
that “it was more dangerous to move.”
Her father texted back, “I know the rescuers are coming but why don’t you try to come outside?”
“I
can’t because the ship is tilting too much,” she said, in a text
displayed by her sister. Ms. Shin has not been heard from since.
Some
survivors gave accounts of professionalism and self-sacrifice by crew
members. Kim Su-bin, the Danwon student who climbed out and jumped into
the water, thanked Park Ji-young, a crew member who was found dead on
Wednesday, for calming students and staying behind without a life jacket
after helping students escape.
“Bring
my child back alive!” some parents yelled on Thursday when President
Park Geun-hye visited a gymnasium that local officials had turned into a
shelter for grieving families. Ms. Park promised “all available
resources” for the rescue efforts, and “a thorough investigation and
stern punishment for those responsible.”
An
editorial in the country’s leading conservative daily newspaper, Chosun
Ilbo, which has been mostly supportive of Ms. Park’s government,
denounced it for “floundering.”
“Above
all, the people must have felt deeply that South Korea is a country
that doesn’t value human lives,” it said. “Hundreds of passengers sank
with the ship, but its captain and most of its crew came out alive.”
Correction: April 17, 2014
An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of the high school where most of the passengers were from. It is Danwon High School, not Dawon.
An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of the high school where most of the passengers were from. It is Danwon High School, not Dawon.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário