Jindo( South
Korea):The
actions of the caption and crew
of a capsized South Korean ferry were "tantamount to murder,"
President Park Guen-hye said today, condemning their "unimaginable"
decision to escape while hundreds were still trapped in the sinking vessel.
Park's
denunciation, in which she vowed to hold all those responsible for the disaster
"criminally accountable," followed the release of a transcript
showing the panic and indecision that paralysed decision-making on the bridge
as the 6,825-tonne Sewol listed and capsized Wednesday morning. The
confirmed death toll stood at 64 but was expected to rise dramatically with 238
people still unaccounted for. "The
actions of the captain and some crew members were utterly incomprehensible,
unacceptable and tantamount to murder," the presidential Blue House quoted
Park as saying in a meeting with senior aides. "Not
only my heart, but the hearts of all South Koreans have been broken and filled
with shock and anger," said Park, who had been heckled Thursday when she
met relatives of the hundreds of passengers still Missing most of them schoolchildren.
The
families have criticised the official response to the disaster, saying the
initial rescue effort was inadequate and mismanaged. The
president said it was increasingly clear that Captain Lee Joon Seok had
unnecessarily delayed the evacuation of passengers as the ferry started
sinking, and then "deserted them" by escaping with most of his crew
members. "This
is utterly unimaginable, legally and ethically," she said. Lee
was arrested on Saturday along with a helmsman and the ship's relatively
inexperienced third officer, who was in charge of the bridge when the ship
first ran into trouble.
A
transcript released yesterday of the final radio communications between the
Sewol and marine transport control underlined the confusion that reined as the
vessel listed sharply to one side after making a distress call. Marine
control ordered the crew to ensure all passengers were wearing life jackets,
while the ship repeatedly questioned whether vessels were on hand to rescue
people once they started to abandon ship. "Make
them wear a life ring at least and let them float. Now!" the control
official insisted. In the
end, the evacuation order was only given around 40 minutes after the ship ran
into trouble, by which time it was listing so heavily that escape was almost
impossible.
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