Two Arrested After South Korean Ferry Runs Aground

TaiwanPlus News

The first officer and a crew member have been arrested, after a South Korean ferry ran aground. Officials say gross negligence by the ferry's crew may have caused the incident.

Transcript

00:00Getting safely to shore. All 267 passengers on this stranded ferry in South Korea were rescued on Thursday morning.

00:08The ferry was en route from Jeju Island to Mokpo on the country's southwestern coast when it suddenly ran aground the night before.

00:15Although everyone survived, it brought back memories of 2014 when the ferry MB Sewol capsized and sank on its way to Jeju.

00:23Over 300 people, including hundreds of schoolchildren, died in that incident.

00:30I thought I might die. The sound was too loud. It sounded like a big accident.

00:36But having seen the Sewol ferry, I knew that in situations like this, you have to stay calm, move outside, wear a life jacket and wait.

00:46It seems like a lot of people did the same.

00:48The Coast Guard is now investigating what caused the 26,000-ton vessel to get stuck on the shores of a rocky, uninhabited island.

00:55The ship's first officer and an Indonesian crew member have been arrested for suspected gross negligence.

01:02A preliminary investigation suggested that they had let the ship run on autopilot,

01:06and the first officer was using his cell phone during a segment that required manual navigation.

01:12As for the cause of the accident, further investigation is required.

01:16However, at this time, we preliminarily assess it to be due to negligence by the captain or the navigating officer.

01:22The damaged ship has been towed ashore, but questions still remain about who is responsible for the grounding.

01:28Patrick Chen and Tiffany Wong for Taiwan Plus.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended