Agonizing wait for families of ferry victims

I'm not saying that the Master and crew are not at fault, as obviously something has gone very very wrong here, but for the President to pre-judge the proper investigation that needs to take place is plainly unfair and wrong, and un befitting for a President. Her job at this stage is to support the victims' families and promise that a proper investigation is carried out, not to effectively accuse the Master and crew of "murder".

I was shocked by Park's statement, which is clearly intended to curry favour with the popular mood.

It's so very sad that so many of the victims are students. Many families only have one child in South Korea, its tough and expensive to raise children and to have your only one perish, it's overwhelmingly sad.

It seems that ferry company, captain and crews did not follow the marine rules and maritime law at all. The ferry was overloaded and heavy containers are not fixed well on decks. Captain did not order crews right and did not instruct evacuation and rescue right. In the poor management the captain escaped first and abandoned all passengers while all screwed up in the big riots. Therefore tragddy just happened.

I post a lot of negative things about Japan here, but I have to say that reading the Korean online newspapers and comments a lot of people are saying that this would never happen in Japan.

The ship was made in Japan, but was retrofitted in Korea to fit more cabins adding to its weight and potentially helping it to capsize. This should not have been done. I'm not even sure if there are laws in Korea for this.

Also, the evacuation and rescue efforts would have been much more orderly in Japan. The way the captain behaved is deplorable. CNN says that the Italian captain of the Costa Concordia acted similarly and described it is a "modern" phenomenon going against naval tradition. But many Koreans disagree and point to character, morality, and the legal system.

That is why a lot of Koreans are upset and say they are still a third world country in terms of these kinds of things and should learn from Japan, a developed country.

Its really heartbreaking moment for the loved ones. Young childrens just gone in this horrible way. So sad.

My heart sanks....young life just passed away like this...

Heart wrenching. Just terrible to think about the range of grief those unfortunate parents, families and friends must be experiencing.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/18/world/asia/south-korea-ship-survivor/

Wednesday morning, after finishing breakfast, Shin sat away from her four friends to watch a soap opera. Then she heard screaming as people on one side of the room started "pouring down." "Stacks of people" slid down the room as the boat tilted, she says. "So I grabbed onto a railing and they started sliding towards me." Soon, she was swept along -- like a row of human dominoes. "Everyone was swept to the one part of the hall."

==> It was a difficult situation. Imagine being in a room with only 2 doorways at either end and vertically lift room 60 degrees toward the one doorway now with everything sliding toward it and trying to move to the other doorway to get out climbing on walls/floor.

Just horrible.

@moneyyen Tell that to SK president who said "No thank you" to their offer to help.

It seems that ferry company, captain and crews did not follow the marine rules and maritime law at all. The ferry was overloaded and heavy containers are not fixed well on decks. Captain did not order crews right and did not instruct evacuation and rescue right. In the poor management the captain escaped first and abandoned all passengers while all screwed up in the big riots. Therefore tragddy just happened.

As someone that regularly travels in Asia, more frequently to South Korea, I'm not surprised with the lack of ability of them handling an out of norm situation. Just look at how the general workers are, at operating machineries, be it of any sort. There's almost no tact, nor care involved. Best evidence, take a random bus/cab trip in Seoul, and feel it for yourself how much you treasure life the moment you step out of the dare devilish driving. Only incompetent crew, like in this case the ship's thrid mate kind of numbers crunching robotic mind could instruct such sharp turn on such big ship. In addition to the fact that the ship had been evidently inappropriately modified to accommodate almost double the passengers numbers, the chances of such accident was just in the waiting. This is so big a can of worms that many shoddy details will eventually shed light, to even more amazement to the great majority of unprepared outside world.

I'm not saying that the Master and crew are not at fault, as obviously something has gone very very wrong here, but for the President to pre-judge the proper investigation that needs to take place is plainly unfair and wrong, and un befitting for a President. Her job at this stage is to support the victims' families and promise that a proper investigation is carried out, not to effectively accuse the Master and crew of "murder". I was shocked by Park's statement, which is clearly intended to curry favour with the popular mood.

I think there's enough evidence for such call to be made by her. The Captain and his crew had shown enough incompetence, negligence and cowardice that death penalty is probably awaiting, if you refer to the Maritime Laws of South Korea. Now the Captain is clamouring that his buttocks were in great pain that he had to get out, what does that tell you of his personality or integrity? Almost synonymously we heard how the Asiana airplane that crashed into San Francisco airport, that the Captain in charge never accepted responsibility of his incompetence, (perhaps due to advice by his legal counsel) and claiming a certain "flash of light" that blinded him just before the crash.

This is pretty much Korea, a country that holds too much artificially inflated pride that prevents them to learn humbly or admitting inadequacies in anything. Sandwiched between China and Japan, complicated further by historical baggages only make things worse for the average folks in Korea.

I just feel tremendously sorrowful and sympathetic that so many lives, especially the young ones were lost so needlessly. No amount of words can alleviate the grief and agony of any parent. May all the affected souls rest in peace.

Gaijin Dilemma - the actions of the watch officer(s) were not "tantamount to murder", whatever you say. Gross negligence, dereliction of duty, manslaughter even, but there is no evidence of intent to harm anyone and so it is very wrong for Park to say this, and especially so when they are still pulling bodies out of the wreck.

There are international rules which are in place relating to the stability of ships (of all types), and this Vessel should have been checked and confirmed as being in compliance with them, even after any modifications. It is not a matter of national regulations, not when you are talking about first world countries, anyway.

If it was a cargo shift, then this is a matter of human error (poor stowage, perhaps combined with aggressive helmsmanship), not of overloading, which appears to be unlikely. Anyway, unlike Ms Park, I am not going to prejudge the reasons for this tragic incident.

6,835 GT (max loaded weight = gross tonnage) 3,794 DWT (actual weight = dead weight tonnage)

Even with the added 239 tons from the renovation the gross probably was the same. =Renovations were to carry more passengers. Most likely this ship was running much lighter than it could. In fact Japan built another new Naminoue (2012) to replace the old Naminoue (Sewol).

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/details/ships/431003691/vessel:FERRY_NAMINOUE (In service: Naha <=> Kagoshima)

frontandcentre- The irresponsible crew would love to have your type of jury in their soon to come judicial trial on their irresponsible actions AFTER the signs of trouble. The blame game will start, without a doubt. But the main point stands, what did the crew do right AFTER the ship started sinking? I would not expect any Hollywood movie type of "Captain to go down with the ship" scenario, but I think there's enough recording of conversation and clear actions that does warrant the term manslaughter or murder.