hankyoreh

a captured image from NewsY showing Sewol ferry caption Lee Joon-seok being rescued from the ship along with passengers. Right

We are gradually figuring out the cause of the tragic sinking of the Sewol ferry. Every moment leading up to the terrible accident - from the moment the ship set sail until it went down - seems to have been marked by negligence, complacency, and shirking of responsibility. If anyone had put safety first and followed proper protocol at throughout this process, the tragedy could have been averted. Even though 21 years have passed since the West Sea Ferry accident, in which 292 people lost their lives, the same problems have still not been fixed. This is a sobering realization. Now is the time to find out who was responsible for the tragedy and correct these problems once and for all.

The investigators have reached the tentative conclusion that the accident occurred when a sudden turn of the helm while the ship was moving caused the center of gravity on the ship to shift in one direction. While one wonders why the ship would have turned so suddenly, this should not have altered the center of gravity to such an extent that the ship would capsize. Investigators are saying that this happened because the cargo and trucks that were on the ship were not securely fastened. This is corroborated by testimony that big trailers fell over when the ship made the sudden turn, and that it started to lean to one side as cargo containers toppled one after the other. There are also suspicions that the cargo weight was not checked properly before the ship embarked and that the weight may have exceeded the maximum load. The principles of strict inspections and safety first were disregarded.

We are also starting to grasp the fundamental reason why the center of gravity was disturbed. Built in Japan in 1994, the Sewol was an old ship that had already been decommissioned. The reason that such a ship was able to be imported and operated in Korea is that the Korean government increased the maximum ship age from 20 to 30 years in 2009 as part of a drive to relax regulations.

On top of that, more rooms were built on the Sewol when it was brought to South Korea, increasing the weight by 239 tons, even though the ship had already undergone a 589 ton expansion shortly after it was built. These rash structural changes had caused difficulties keeping the ship upright under normal operations, and after the sudden turn, it would have been hard to restore equilibrium. If the government and associated agencies had made safety their first priority, such cutting of corners would never have been possible.

But the disregard for safety was even worse once the Sewol was at sea. At the time of the sharp turn, the Sewol was traveling at a fast clip of 17.5 knots, reports indicate. Making a sharp turn at such a speed could have caused a ship that was even bigger than the Sewol to lean. Even worse, the spot where the accident occurred was outside of recommended shipping lanes.

Why would the ship have been traveling so fast despite the possibility that something unexpected could occur? The crew might have been trying to make up for lost time, since the ship’s departure had been delayed for more than two hours. Others are saying that the tilting ship was unable to regain its balance because the crew had emptied the ballast tank at the bottom of the ship in order to make it lighter and travel faster. If this is true, it reveals a terrifying lack of concern for safety.

The selfish behavior of the captain and crew, who fled the ship, leaving behind the passengers - many of them high school students - is irresponsibility at its worst. Articles 10 and 11 of the Seafarers Act state, “A captain shall not leave his/her ship from the time cargoes are loaded or passengers start to go on board until the time all cargoes are unloaded or all passengers leave his/her ship. At times when a ship is in critical danger, a captain shall take all measures necessary to rescue human lives, the ship and cargoes.”

Despite these regulations, the captain and the majority of the crew were among the first to leave the ship. If the crew had taken this time to release the life rafts and guide the confused and frightened passengers through the complicated passageways on the ship and helped them evacuate, they could have minimized the loss of life. There is no trace of responsibility or a sense of vocation in these crew members, who ignored the fate of the passengers in the attempt to save themselves. They were the ones who caused the tragedy on the Sewol by cutting corners and ignoring the passengers’ safety and survival. How long will we allow such barbarism to continue?

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