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South Korean divers swam though dark, cold waters into a sunken ferry on
Wednesday, feeling for children's bodies with their hands in a maze of cabins,
corridors and upturned decks as they searched for hundreds of missing.
The divers, with oxygen and communications lines trailing, can only see a
few inches in front of them in the wreckage of the ship that started sinking a
week ago after a sharp turn. Most of the victims were high school children, who
were told to stay where they were for their own safety and were trapped.
Most of the bodies found in the last two days had broken fingers,
presumably from the children frantically trying to climb the walls or floors to
escape in their last moments, media said.
"We are trained for hostile environments, but it's hard to be brave when we
meet bodies in dark water," diver Hwang Dae-sik told Reuters, as the funerals of
25 students were held near the capital,Seoul.
Prosecutors investigating the disaster raided the home of Yoo Byung-un, the
head of a family that owns the Chonghaejin Marine Co. Ltd, the company that
operated the Sewol ferry. They also raided his son's home and the office of a
church with which Yoo has been associated, said a prosecutor who did not want to
be identified.
The finances of Chonghaejin and its complex share structure have come into
the spotlight in recent days. Yoo was jailed for fraud for four years in the
early 1990s.
But it was not immediately clear how big a development this was. Korean
police and prosecutors often make dramatic raids to show that progress is being
made in a high-profile case.
Underwater, at the site of the sunken Sewol, divers are able to work for
nearly an hour at a time as long as the oxygen lines do not snag on sharp
corners of the ship's internal structure. When they use cumbersome oxygen tanks
on their backs instead, they can work for about 20 minutes before an alarm bell
sounds.
The Sewol sank last Wednesday on a routine trip from the port of Incheon,
near Seoul, to the southern island of Jeju.
Of the 476 passengers and crew on board, 339 were children and teachers on
a high school outing. Only 174 people have been rescued and the remainder are
presumed to have drowned.
The confirmed death toll on Wednesday was 146, many found at the back of
the ship on the fourth deck.
Hwang said his team had retrieved 14 bodies so far. "We have to touch
everything with our hands. This is the most grueling and heartbreaking job of my
career," he said.
Captain Lee Joon-seok, 69, and other crew members have been arrested on
negligence charges. Lee was also charged with undertaking an "excessive change
of course without slowing down".
LAW REQUIRES CAPTAIN TO STAY ON BOARD
Several crew members, including the captain, left the ferry as it was
sinking, witnesses have said, after passengers were told to stay in their
cabins, even though it was time for breakfast. President Park Geun-hye said on
Monday that instruction was tantamount to an "act of murder".
"The charged crew members appear to have not carried out their duty to
rescue the passengers at all," prosecutor Ahn Sang-don told a briefing. "Based
on the fact that they were gathered in the bridge, engine room and so on, then
left the boat, we believe negligent homicide is applicable."
According to Article 10 of Seafarers' Act, a captain has to remain on board
until all passengers have disembarked.
A boy with a shaking voice gave the first distress call to the emergency
services when the ferry listed.
Most of those who survived made it out on deck and jumped into rescue
boats, but many of the children did not leave their cabins, not questioning
their elders as is customary in hierarchical Korean society. They paid for their
obedience with their lives.
Lee was not on the bridge when the ship turned. Navigation was in the hands
of a 26-year old third mate who was in charge for the first time on that part of
the journey, according to crew members.
The wife of one crew member under investigation who did not wish to be
identified quoted her husband as saying: "I should have died out there."
"He told me that he was taking some rest as he had finished his shift. He
fell from his bed and struggled to open the room door to get out. He said he
didn't go to the steering house to meet up with rest of the crew. Rather he was
found by coastguards and was rescued.
"My husband didn't get along with other crewmen, but he told me that
Captain Lee was someone comfortable and extremely calm. He said Captain Lee was
like no other: he didn't drink much, although he did smoke."
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发表于 2016-7-10 18:03:12