The confirmed death toll from the ferry disaster off South Korea rose Wednesday to 150 as divers located more bodies in the sunken vessel, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
Although Park attempted to place the blame primarily on the captain and crew, public criticism of the government’s handling of the disaster has been steadily rising. Among many missteps, family members of the missing are most outraged at the government initially reporting that 368 passengers were saved, when in reality only 174 were rescued.
A colleague of Kang’s told The Guardian that the vice principal was overcome with guilt. “As the teacher responsible for the students’ safety, he was suffering with serious feelings of guilt,” the Korea Herald quoted the teacher as saying. “The families of the victims vented their anger towards him — he was brokenhearted.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Kang left a note behind: “Please hold me responsible for all of this. I pushed for the school excursion. Cremate my body and spread my ashes over the ship sinking site. I may become a teacher again in the afterlife for the students whose bodies have yet to be found.”
The Associated Press
That number of deaths has sharply increased after divers reached the ship’s cafeteria where many passengers were thought to be when the ship began to sink.
Divers were able to begin recovering bodies from inside the 6,325-ton vessel that sank off the coast of South Korea last week with 475 people aboard.
South Korea Coast Guard / AFP
The first distress call made from the ferry as it began to sink last week came from a boy, not the crew, who used his cell phone to contact emergency services, the coast guard said Tuesday. “Help us. The boat is sinking,” he said. His fate unknown.
AP
Lee Jong-eui shows a photograph of his nephew, Nam Hyun-chul, one of the missing passengers aboard the sunken ferry.
The captain of the ferry was arrested on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people. Three other crew members were also arrested.
AP / Yonhap
Lee Joon-seok (center) the captain of the sunken ferry Sewol in the water off the southern coast, leaves a court which issued his arrest warrant in Mokpo, south of Seoul, South Korea, on April 19. Four additional crew members were detained on April 21 on suspicion of also abandoning the ship.
Data shows that the ship made a J-shaped turn before listing heavily and ultimately sinking last week.
AP Photo/South Korea Coast Guard via Yonhap
The reason for the sinking of the ferry still remains a mystery, but investigators are looking into the different possibilities.
AP Photo/Yonhap
The captain was not on the bridge when the ferry started sinking, but instead the third officer was at the helm, who may have ordered a turn that caused the ship to tilt.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Monday lashed out at the captain and crew. “What the captain and part of the crew did is unfathomable from the viewpoint of common sense. Unforgivable, murderous behavior,” said Park.
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AP Photo/Yonhap, Do Kwang-hwan
Park went on, saying of the sinking, “Legally and ethically, this is an unimaginable act.” She accused the captain of contributing to the death toll when he “told the passengers to stay put while they themselves became the first to escape.”
The vice principal of Danwon high school, which had many students aboard the ferry, was found dead on Friday.
Lee Jin-man/Associated Press
Reports said Kang Min-gyu, 52, who had been rescued from the ferry accident, died in an apparent suicide near a gymnasium on Jindo, an island near the accident site.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Kang left a note behind: “Please hold me responsible for all of this. I pushed for the school excursion. Cremate my body and spread my ashes over the ship sinking site. I may become a teacher again in the afterlife for the students whose bodies have yet to be found.”
In addition, the evacuation was delayed for more than 30 minutes after a South Korean transportation official ordered preparations to abandon ship, the Associated Press.
AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon
The crew reportedly gathered on the bridge and sent a distress call, when the ship was already listing at the critical angle at which a vessel can be brought back to even keel. The ship’s captain, Lee Joon-seok, first instructed passengers to put on their life jackets and stay put. Then he ordered the boat be righted twice, failing both times.
After more than half an hour of passengers being told to stay put, the captain ordered the evacuation. Although it is not clear in the chaos of the event that the direction was ever relayed to the passengers.
AP Photo/Yonhap, Hyung Min-woo
The ferry’s captain and along with two crewmembers were formally arrested on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need.
Senior prosecutor Ahn Sang-don told reporters Monday that two first mates, one second mate and a chief engineer are also accused of abandoning the ship and have been detained. Out of 29 crewmembers, 20 people, including the captain survived.
Divers have continued the search underwater, although they have had difficulty approaching the submerged hull.
The first bodies recovered were found floating in the ocean, but most of the missing passengers are trapped in the hull.
The divers are fighting against low visibility, cold temperatures, and fast currents.
As the ferry was going down, South Korean coast guard helicopters rescued passengers from the balconies of the capsized ferry, as seen in these images from a video released by News Y via Yonhap.
Here a passenger of the sinking ferry is rescued and hoisted onto a coast guard helicopter.
AP Photo/South Korean Coast Guard via AP Video
The 475 passengers and crew aboard the sinking South Korean ferry were some 20 kilometers off the island of Byungpoong in Jindo.
“We heard a big thumping sound and the boat stopped. The boat is tilting and we have to hold on to something to stay seated,” a passenger told YTN.
The ferry was traveling from the port of Incheon to the southern resort island of Jeju when it sent a distress call and began leaning to one side.
This footage from YTN News 24 shows the capsized ferry as rescue efforts began.
Some of the 325 students on board the ferry jumped into the sea as the ship went down.
One student, Lim Hyung-min, told broadcaster YTN: “As the ferry was shaking and tilting, we all tripped and bumped into each another.”
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He added that some of the passengers were injured and bleeding and that, once in the water, the ocean was “so cold” and that he was “hurrying, thinking that I wanted to live.”
AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon
Distraught parents at Danwon high school search for their children’s names among a list of the survivors rescued from the wreck.
View this image ›
AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon
The parents on the day of the accident waiting for a bus to meet their children who have been rescued.
AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon
Parents attend a candle light vigil to hope for their children’s safe return at Danwon high school in Ansan, South Korea, on April 16.
AP Photo/Yonhap
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