MV Sewol

2014

Field trip, fatal turn, the captain fled Location: off Byungpoong Island, South Korea · Coordinates: 34.22°N 125.95°E · Casualties: 304 · Survivors: 172 · Depth: 44 m · Cause: capsized — Overloaded and improperly ballasted on her regular Incheon-to-Jeju run on 16 April 2014. A sharp turn at 08:49 induced a list from which she could not recover. The captain and crew ordered passengers to stay in their cabins, then abandoned ship. · Fate: raised 2017 · Type: roll-on/roll-off ferry · Tonnage: 6,825 tons · Crew: 33 · Flag: South Korea · Launched: 1994 South Korean ro-ro ferry, Incheon to Jeju, 16 April 2014. Overloaded and improperly ballasted, she heeled in a routine turn and could not recover; the captain and crew abandoned ship while ordering passengers to stay in their cabins. Of the 304 dead, 250 were high school students on a field trip. Broadcast live on national television for hours, the disaster became a political rupture that eventually reached the presidency and ended it. The Vessel The MV Sewol was a Japanese-built passenger ferry, 6,835 gross tons and 146 metres long, originally commissioned in 1994 as the Marine-Express Ferry Naminoue on Japan's Kagoshima-Naha route. She was acquired by South Korea's Chonghaejin Marine Company in October 2012 for a price of 10.8 billion won ($9.5 million). She was then modified substantially in a Korean yard: her upper superstructure was extended upward by two decks, the deck area was expanded by 11.9 square metres, and her certified passenger capacity was increased from 804 to 956. The modifications were approved by the Korean Register of Shipping on 25 January 2013 on condition that she carry, at all times, a minimum of 1,077 metric tons of ballast water and a maximum of 987 metric tons of cargo. These limits had been calculated to compensate for the raised centre of gravity from the new superstructure. Her modified stability was theoretically within Korean regulatory limits, but only just, and only under the specified ballast and cargo conditions. In commercial service on the Incheon-Jeju route between March 2013 and April 2014, Sewol routinely operated with less than the required ballast and more than the allowed cargo. The subsequent inquiry established that she sailed in this condition on every voyage for which records were kept. The Korean Register of Shipping had conducted annual surveys without identifying the pattern. Her operator, Chonghaejin Marine, was a family-controlled business whose chairman Yoo Byung The Disaster Captain Lee Joon-seok made a ship-to-shore distress call to the Korean Coast Guard's Jeju VTS at 08:55 and received direction to the Mokpo VTS at 08:58. The Mokpo VTS ordered him to sound the general alarm and prepare the passengers for evacuation. This order was not executed. The bridge crew instead broadcast to passengers throughout the ferry that they should remain in their cabins, stay in place, and await further instruction. This broadcast was repeated at least seven times over the ship's PA system between 08:52 and 09:37. The first Korean Coast Guard patrol craft, CG-123, reached the scene at 09:30. It moved along the starboard side of the heeled ferry, rescuing first the crew members who had emerged onto the external decks. At 09:46 Captain Lee and 14 of his 33 crew left the ship by the starboard-side rescue boats. The overwhelming majority of the students were still in their cabins, still following the broadcast instructions, still alive at this point. She capsized fully at 10:31 and her stern sank at 12:45. The Coast Guard, Korean Navy, and civilian vessels that arrived through the morning rescued 172 people, all of whom had either made their own way out of the ferry against the crew's instructions or had been outside her cabins at the moment of heeling. 304 aboard died in cabins and corridors below decks, including 250 of the 325 Danwon High School students. The sinking was broadcast live on Korean national television.