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According to law enforcement officials on the 15th, the 22nd Division of the Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Agreement (Deputy Judge Yang Cheol-han) condemned all 10 former and current maritime officials including former Maritime Police Commissioner Kim Seok-gyun and acquitted of the charges of negligence and injuries. The crew’s irresponsible response was revealed as the basis for the judgment.
The judiciary divided the prosecution’s alleged’work negligence’ into before and after the arrival of 123 ships and helicopters right after the accident. For the coast guard, communication with the captain or crew of the Sewol ferry was essential to establish a rescue plan and order abandonment.
The Jindo Marine Traffic Control Center (VTS) began contacting the Sewol ferry captain at 9:07 a.m., 10 minutes after the first report was received. The judge said about the situation at the time, “in light of the communication between the Jindo VTS and the Sewol ferry, it is possible that the Seohae Maritime Police Agency’s situation room, who received the report, may have misunderstood that it was only a decision on whether to quit.
At that time, Captain Lee communicated with Jindo VTS, saying, “I had to give out life jackets, and the crew members were also gathered on board,” and “If we escape now, we can immediately rescue.” However, in reality, unlike the contents of this correspondence, only the announcement was made to the passengers to’wait in the cabin’. The judge said, “According to the records, it seems that the captain did not prepare to abandon at all, such as giving announcements to wait in the cabin at the time and gathering them on the emergency deck.”
The explanation of the situation different from the facts of the Sewol ferry continued even after the rescue team arrived at the Sewol ferry. Captain Lee communicated to Jindo VTS at 9:37 am, saying, “People who could escape were broadcast to try to escape,” and did not respond to the call anymore. After that, at 9:46 am, he escaped with the crew and was rescued at 123 boats in the seaview without revealing his identity. At the same time, only the broadcast to wait on board was repeated in the cabin, but no information about the accident situation was provided. The judge pointed out that “the defendants could not have predicted the situation in which the captain and crew of the Sewol ferry abandoned the rescue duty and escaped, or the passengers remained according to the broadcast.”
At the time of the accident, cargo was loaded on the Sewol ferry forcibly, and the resilience of the hull was significantly lowered due to improper fixation (fixed). The judge said, “As a result of the simulation, the ship’s hull investigation committee announced that if the watertight compartment of the Sewol was properly maintained, it would have remained inclined for a much longer time.” It would have been difficult to predict what to do.”
The Sewol ferry tilted relatively slowly at a rate of about 0.15 degrees per minute until 9:45 am, about 50 minutes after the accident, but after that, it tilted rapidly at a speed of 1.7 degrees per minute. Regarding this, the judge pointed out that “the rescue headquarters took measures related to withdrawal from around 9:50 am,” and pointed out that “if the sinking had been delayed, many passengers could have been rescued.”
/ Intern reporter Park Shin-won [email protected]
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