A major rescue operation for the capsized ferry off Korea's southwestern coast continues
on this Friday evening... where divers have finally reached inside the hull of the sunken
ship.
But there have been conflicting accounts...
all day...
about how successful they've been.
For details,... we'll go to the Arirang News Center.
Hi, Ji-won, any updates?
Hi, You-sun, it just came in,... that rescue divers successfully entered the third floor
of the sunken ferry.
The divers have been continuing search-and-rescue operations for the past few hours,... as they
tried to take advantage of the low tide... to find survivors in the sunken ship.
The rescue team is expected to continue their search operations throughout the night.
Well, earlier in the morning, divers installed guidelines leading into the cafeteria that's
on the third floor of the vessel.
Later in the afternoon, they reached the freight car, on the second floor, and the steer station
on the fifth floor.
But the divers retreated just 14 minutes later, after a guideline broke during attempts to
break open a door to one of the compartments on the second floor.
The divers have reportedly made it to the fourth floor, but no survivors have been found
yet.
There had been conflicting reports concerning the rescue team's entry into the vessel, which
led the Central Disaster Safety Headquarters to issue an apology for their inaccurate updates.
And Ji-won, the Korea Coast Guard announced within the past hour that,... a revision to
the total number of passengers that were onboard?
Yes, You-sun.
The Korea Coast Guard said,... the total number is 4-hundred-76... not 4-hundred-75 as previously
reported.
Also, they have revised down the number of rescued to 1-hundred74.
Ji-won,... there are so many confusions,... from the very start of the situation... and
even for us it's frustrating,... hopefully we get more confirmation on this unexpected
change.
And how are the families of the missing holding up?
As for the families,... as our Arirang correspondents reported earlier, many at the Jindo auditorium,...
are crying in pain, praying for their loved ones to come back, but also shouting in frustration
and anger towards the government about the slow progress in search-and-rescue operations,...
and also...
towards media covering the event.
Really...
no words can fully describe or explain what is going through the minds of the families
at this moment.
And another shocking revelation,... the vice principal of Danwon High School is believed
to have committed suicide.
It was around five minutes past 4 p.m. Korea time, when the vice principal was found hanged
by his own belt,... from a tree on a hill behind the Jindo auditorium.
He was onboard when the ferry was sinking two days ago... and he was one of the few
that were rescued.
The principal has left a suicide note in his wallet.
In it, he wrote that it is hard to live on not knowing whether the 2-hundred students
are alive or not.
The 52-year-old also added that he wishes his body be cremated and thrown into the site
of the accident,... and said he hopes he can be the teacher of the dead students in their
afterlife.
How tragic,.... and Ji-won, the joint team of prosecutors and police filed arrest warrants
for three crew members including the captain?
Yes, the joint investigation team filed arrest warrants this evening,... after intensively
questioning the captain, three times,... and raiding the office of the ferry operator this
morning.
The team applied five different charges,... including abandoning the sinking ship and
rescuing himself before the safety of other passengers still on the boat.
And under special criminal laws on specific crimes,... the maximum punishment a captain
can face for abandoning the ship, could be life in prison.
There are reports that the ship may have gone under excessive renovations... this could
have been a factor in the cause of the accident as well...
Yes.
The ship was last renovated in 2012,... and the ship's weight increased by nearly a thousand
tons.
The number of passengers the ship can carry also increased by more than a hundred.
Experts say this might have played a factor in the ship listing so easily,... when taking
a sharp turn.
The investigation team on Friday, also raided a shipyard in Mokpo,... that renovated the
ferry.
Experts also point out the possibility that the cargo carried inside the ferry,... hundreds
of vehicles and a thousand tons of other cargo,... may not have been tied down, tightly,... and
that the cargo could have slid to one side... suddenly...
when the ship took a swift turn.
So,... it seems like a combination of so many problems together caused the tragedy.
The team in charge of investigating this disaster held a press briefing on their interim findings.
What did we learn about who was steering the ship at the time of the disaster?
Yes, the joint investigation team announced their interim report today,... and it's been
confirmed that the ferry's 26-year-old third mate, not the captain, was steering the 68-hundred-ton
ferry,... when the vessel encountered trouble.
She started working for this company in December, just about four or five months ago.
Korean regulations mandate that a vessel more than 3-thousand tons should be navigated by
a first or second mate,.... and considering that the Sewol-ho ferry weighs more than twice
that, it's clear violation of regulations.
Fingers are being pointed towards the captain, who is believed to have been away from the
steering room at the time of the incident.
However, regarding the exact location of the captain at the time of the crisis,... testimonies
have so far differed.
Meantime, every surviving member of the ferry's crew, and the top management personnel of
the ferry's operator,... have been banned from leaving the country.
Ok, Ji-won, please do keep us updated.
That was our Park Ji-won at the Arirang News Center.