Captain in Korean ferry disaster arrested

The captain of the South Korean ferry which sank two days ago, killing 28 people and leaving more than 270 missing, has been arrested, according to news agency Yonhap.

A warrant had been issued for the arrest of Lee Joon-seok (68) after the disaster on Wednesday.

The investigation into the sinking of the vessel, the Sewol , has focused on the ferry's sharp turn before it started listing, and on whether a quicker evacuation by the captain could have saved lives. Investigators also were determining whether the captain had abandoned the ship.

Earlier yesterday the vice-principal of the South Korean secondary school who accompanied hundreds of students on the capsized ferry hung himself from a tree.

In a bitter twist to a tragedy that has horrified South Korea, Kang Min-gyu (52) appeared to have hung himself outside a gymnasium in the port city of Jindo where relatives of the missing people, most of them schoolchildren, are waiting for information.

Police said Mr Kang, who was rescued after the ferry capsized, did not leave a suicide note and that they started looking for him after he was reported missing by a fellow teacher.

School trip
A majority of passengers on the ferry, which was carrying 462 passengers and crew, were 11th-graders at Danwon High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, on a school trip to Jeju Island. Altogether, 325 students were on board with 15 teachers, and they make up about 250 of the missing.

Some 500 divers are battling strong currents and murky waters in the Yellow Sea to get to the sunken vessel. It became submerged underwater yesterday, after part of the hull had been sticking out of the water since it capsized on Wednesday.

The ferry left Incheon at 9pm on Tuesday and was due to arrive at Jeju at noon. It started to sink at 8.55am, apparently after hitting an unidentified object, although the vessel was in calm conditions on a well-travelled route, apparently clear of reefs.

Coast guard officials have said the investigation was focused on possible crew negligence, problems with cargo stowage and structural defects of the vessel, although it appears to have passed all safety and insurance checks.

Heroes of tragedy
Moving tales of some of the heroes of the tragedy began to emerge, including 22-year-old Park Ji-young, a crew member, who was found dead after helping students from Danwon High School escape. "When the ship began to list, Park distributed life vests to students. I asked why she wasn't wearing one herself. Then, she said that the crew should attend to others first," a 17-year-old female student who survived told the Korea Times .

Ms Park had dropped out of university in Suwon in 2012 to support her widowed mother and younger sister. Fishermen living near the site of the accident tried to help passengers floating in the water.

“Our village leader asked us to take part in the rescue work through a broadcast early in the morning. We wasted no time in agreeing to the request,” a fisherman on Jindo told local media.

Captain Lee Joon-seok who was one of at least 179 people rescued soon after Wednesday’s sinking.

A helmsman on the ship said a junior officer was steering the ferry when it started to list heavily and Capt Lee rushed back to the bridge to try to right the vessel. Although the captain has not commented on when he left the ship, he has apologised for the loss of life. – (Additional reporting Reuters)